Jashin & Jiongu
by jCOOLn
Summary: Naruto is forced into the ritual for the god Jashin by Hidan, as is Jashin's apparent will. After giving Naruto the immortality of his cult Hidan leaves to join the shadow organization that has offered to hire him. After quickly abandoning Konoha, Naruto runs into Kakuzu, who finds his talents most interesting. Earth Grudge Fear/Jiongu/Jashin's Blessing/Harem/Kinjutsu/Chakra Chains
1. Chapter 1

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 1]**

**{Disclaimer: I don't know Naruto, so don't sue me}**

**P.S. I had originally thought of calling this story 'Kinjutsu Naruto' due to all of the kinjutsu that Naruto will learn and use throughout the story, but decided to stick with 'Zombie Apprentice' because I thought it sounded better.**

**(Newest Jashinist)**

**XXX**

Naruto was really, really, really, really, scared and he had no idea how to fix his problem. He had been sleeping great for the first time in a while, but then he felt like someone had come into his apartment, so he woke up and looked around. He was shocked to see a man looking down on him with a scary look in his eyes and a giant scythe on his back.

"Rejoice child, Jashin-sama has chosen you to be one of his followers. He has sent me to gift you with his powers, so that you to may spread carnage and destruction in his name! Tonight you will receive **Jashin's Blessing**!" spoke the man with a kind smile, but the darkness in his eyes freaked Naruto out. This guy gave off a weird vibe, like the natural energy that people gave off that Naruto could somewhat feel had been changed and now it was like this guys, old and powerful.

"Uhm, ok" spoke Naruto right before he tried to run away.

It was not to be as the man was much faster than he had seemed and quickly grabbed Naruto and muffled his cries with his hand before slamming Naruto on the ground very had which caused him to become dazed. Naruto's head was swimming with stars and it felt like he wasn't even in his own body he had been slammed so hard.

He heard some rumbling and the sound of things being moved around and saw through clouded eyes as the silvered haired man with the weird purple eyes start to knock over his things and move them into the kitchen. He kept doing this for a while, but eventually Naruto was able to get his senses back and tried to run again.

"You are a quick one aren't you, that is good, means you will live longer" spoke Hidan as he grabbed Naruto and slammed him onto the ground again. This time though he tied up his hands and feet with ninja wire so he wouldn't be able to run away again. The boy needed to be blessed by Jashin, it was the will of Jashin after all, so of course he was happy to do it.

The boy had a lot of crap in his small crappy apartment. It had been hard enough getting into the village without being caught, so he was already a bit stressed, so he wasn't exactly gentle with the boy's things. It wasn't like he was going to need them soon anyways.

"Alright, it is almost time" spoke Hidan as he looked out the window to see the moon was almost directly overhead. When the moon was directly overhead the ritual could begin.

Hidan started to draw pentagons all over the floor with intricate designs and shapes until the floor almost looked like a mural. After that he grabbed the boy and untied him right before placing him in the center of a giant pentagon with a triangle in the center with a circle around it.

"Alright, here we go. Dear great god Jashin, I have brought you the child you wished for, so please bless him with the power to go forth and create carnage and destruction in your name" spoke Hidan as he started to go through hand signs. When he was done he slammed his hand on a certain symbol and channeled his chakra into it. He watched with sickening glee as the blood started to travel towards the boy and a red glow over took his body.

Naruto's body started to absorb the blood symbols and chakra from inside of the blood which was causing his body to change. His red hair was getting light and lighter until it turned a striking silver color. His blue eyes kept on getting darker until they matched Hidan's exactly. His body became more toned though it was still natural looking. Besides that the boy looked relatively the same, though Hidan knew he was having some terrible nightmares right about now.

"I am just going to leave these here with you, wouldn't want to get caught by leaf ninja for staying to long" spoke Hidan as he jumped out of the window and ran into the darkness to try and avoid any ninja that would come investigating the spike in chakra that he had caused.

Naruto was in agonizing pain. It felt like every atom of his being was exploding only for the pieces to come back together only to do it again. He had hoped that his Uzumaki blood would have helped him, to stop whatever it was the man had done to him, but it seemed that it just wasn't something that could be healed, even though Naruto felt that it was some kind of poison.

When Naruto was finally able to pass out he thought he would be able to escape the pain, but the only thing that changed was what type of pain he felt. He went from the physical pain, to mental pain. He first started off in a black void that had nothing beside him, but soon it was filled with people all looking at him with hatred and loathing in their eyes.

At first they just taunted him by calling him names, throwing basic things at him, and then talking about how worthless he was. Soon though they moved on to things that really hurt his heart deep down, and they said that his parents had abandoned him because they didn't love him, that the Hokage knew who they were and why he was hated but thought that it was funny to watch him suffer, that he would never reach his dreams and would be forever hated.

Naruto was scared, his heart felt like it was going to break, and he felt his mind starting to care in, but something told him that they were wrong. He could feel it in his heart that his mother had loved him. He had no idea why his father's opinion didn't matter to him, but he knew she loved him.

Eventually the villagers started to clear out and one by one they disappeared only to give way to a light that filled that endless void. Soon a red headed woman appeared and laid his head on her lap and started to rub his head. She kept telling him how everything was going to be alright and that she would protect him. He felt safe and soon his nightmare ended.

**XXX**

The sound of his alarm clock going off rocketed Naruto out of his hellish dream. He looked around his nerves shaking him all over as his heart raced like racing horses would. He saw that his living room was bare and that all of his stuff had been shoved into his kitchen, except a rather old book with the words **Jashinism** written on the spine and a silver necklace with a pendant at the bottom with a pentagon at the bottom. It was in the shape of a large circle with a triangle in the center.

"What the hell just happened" spoke Naruto as he got up and crushed his alarm clock. He was tired of that thing and he was feeling a hell of a lot more violent this morning. When he looked back at the book he groaned but picked it up and started to read it anyway.

"What the Fuck" spoke Naruto as he read page after page from the book. He missed an entire day of class, and didn't even eat while he read his new book. At one point he had put the necklace on so now it hung from his neck.

Naruto read about weird rituals that were weird types of jutsu, something that Naruto had always wanted to learn, he learned that he was supposedly now immortal with the only way of dying being malnutrition, though that sounded like a painful way to die. He continued to read, though his reading abilities were only basic , so he struggled a bit, and learn about everything that had happened to him, and honestly he liked it, but the image of that woman who had protected him in his sleep kept popping up in his mind and he felt inner peace when it happened.

**[The Next Day]**

When Naruto woke up he looked out of the window and saw that it was early morning outside. He didn't know what he wanted to do, but he knew he wasn't going to stay in this village to be tortured for all eternity.

This village had never been home to him, even though they wore his clan's symbol. It burned Naruto deeply at their ignorance, but there was nothing he could do about that. He quickly grabbed some of the clothes that the Hokage had recently bought for him.

Now Naruto was wearing some dark green cargo shorts, black ninja sandals with ninja tape wrapped around his legs, and a black shirt with a red swirl on the back for his clan. Around his neck he wore the silver pentagon necklace that the silver haired man had left him and some mesh armor under his shirt.

Naruto looked in the mirror and although he looked almost completely different he decided to do a few extra things to his appearance. He grabbed a headband and put it on his forehead and pushed backwards causing his hair to be pushed back (like how soul does in Soul Eater). It looked cool and Naruto figured it was a great look for him.

Looking into the mirror Naruto honestly had a hard time recognized himself. There were so many things different about his seven year old body that it was hard to imagine that he was so much different looking.

"Ok, I can do this. All I have to do is walk out of the village, how hard is that? There isn't any way they would recognize me" spoke Naruto, but then he noticed that his voice was the same.

"Damn it" shouted Naruto feeling like there was always a catch. Nothing came for free in this world, especially for him, and he just figured if he kept his mouth closed then he would be able to get away.

Naruto soon left his apartment making sure not to be seen leaving it. His heart was beating very quickly, but he knew that if he was quite then nobody would recognize him, although he didn't like the idea that he had changed so much physically. It felt like his identity had been stolen, but in truth he was happy to trade it for his freedom.

As Naruto walked down the street he got odd looks, but they were not the same ones he was used to getting. Now these people were whispering about things like foreigners having weird hair colors, and someone even mentioned he thought it was a Lighting Country thing. Naruto let out his breath the he didn't even know he was holding when nobody recognized him.

It felt weird to not walk down the streets and not have anyone say anything bad about you, for nobody to shoot you a glare they would a mass murder, or for someone to throw something at him. it actually felt nice, and he realized that maybe this is what others felt every day, it wasn't hard to see why they were always so happy when he wasn't around, but Naruto knew deep down that those looks would turn right back to the old ones if they found out who he was.

Eventually Naruto got to the west entrance of the village and was confronted by two chunin who were known as the 'Eternal Guardians' because they were always on guard duty. It was supposed to be shuffled around, but for some reason they were always the ones chosen. Naruto just figured they must have done something to get that treatment.

"Hey I don't remember you coming into the village" spoke Izumo as he looked down on Naruto. He knew he hadn't seen any kid with silver hair and purple eyes…. well ever, so how did he get into the village.

Izumo was about average height with long brown hair that covered his right eye. He wore his forehead protector on his forehead and instead of keeping it on a headband they kept it on a cap that covered his entire head. His build wasn't all that great, leaving him kind of thin, but he wore the average Konoha chunin outfit with long sleeves so most people wouldn't notice. He wore the standard chunin vest proudly and had lots of scrolls and stuff inside of it.

"I came in with the last trade group that came here, but stayed a bit to see the sights. I am supposed to meet up with them in Blima village in one week's time" spoke Naruto in his best childlike voice, though it came out high pitched and not very believable.

"Blima village? Yea that is where the last caravan leader said he was going" spoke the other chunin as he looked over at his friend from his chair. His name was Kotetsu and he didn't see why Izumo was blocking the kid, it wasn't like it mattered what he did, wasn't like a kid could break into Konoha regardless of how skilled he was.

Kotetsu was a bit bigger than his friend Izumo with long dark blue hair that stuck out in every direction. He wore a white piece of cloth across his face that went under his eyes but over his nose. His build was a bit sturdier than his friends, but he wore the same exact outfit as him. He didn't wear the full headed cap with the forehead protects, opting to go with the more traditional forehead protector sash.

"Kotetsu you are being irresponsible. We have to make sure that the boy isn't a spy or something" spoke Izumo as he looked over at Kotetsu with an annoyed look because he wasn't helping him.

"Well then pat him down and see if he has anything that would point towards being a traitor or spy" spoke the man as he went back to shuffling some cards on a fold out table that Naruto was sure he wasn't supposed to have.

"Alright" spoke Izumo as he gave Naruto a quick pat down, but stopped at a scroll at Naruto's hip. "What is that" spoke Izumo as he pulled the scroll out of Naruto's pocket and examined it.

"It is a sealing scroll that lets me store all of my supplies. My dad taught me" spoke Naruto, not expecting for this to happen. Most civilians didn't even have a clue how chakra worked, so now he was in some deep trouble.

"How did your father know how to use chakra" asked Izumo as he looked down at Naruto with hard eyes. He looked a hair's breath away from arresting Naruto right there on the spot which caused Naruto to think on his feet very quickly.

"He was a monk at the fire temple" blurted out Naruto as he took a subconscious step backwards. The man eyed him for a moment and then looked at the scroll.

"Alright I will believe you, but I do need to check out all of the things in here" spoke Izumo as he started unseal everything that was in Naruto's scroll. Eventually he worked his way down to the last thing that Naruto wanted him to find.

"What is this" asked the man as he held up the book that the silver haired man had left for him. He obviously didn't realize what it was, or the dark religious texts that were in there along with the strange jutsu and intro to what was known as the following.

"It is a sacred book describing a man's journey through the nine circles of hell. It is a first edition" spoke Naruto hoping that the man would not read it. The book described a dark religion and a highly destructive god that he knew he would be arrested for just having, let alone practicing.

"Izumo how long are you going to make me wait? It is your turn" shouted Kotetsu as he looked back at his best friend who was harassing some young kid. He really had to be bored if he was stopping children from leaving the village.

"Alright I will be there in a second" spoke Izumo giving up on trying to figure out what was up with this strange kid, and gave him his stuff back. After the boy had everything sealed up he quickly took off down the road trying to get as far away from him as possible.

"Man you must really be bored if you are harassing kids now" spoke Kotetsu as he looked down at his cards and put three kings down and watched as Izumo put down the other king and three threes.

"You just have to ruin my fun don't you? What if that kid had something important on him and it would weaken our village with it gone" spoke Izumo with a bored one as he drew from the deck and put down a two, three, and four of hearts.

"I would say that things can't get much worse and that at worse we get moved over to library duty" spoke Kotetsu as he drew from the deck and laid down a five of hearts.

"I guess you are right" spoke Izumo as anime tears started to run down his face.

**XXX**

Naruto felt so great, he was free and nobody was going to take that from him. Naruto knew that he would need to get something to eat soon, but other than that he was perfectly fine. He would no longer have to deal with being looked at like something that was less than human or be forced to eat things that should have been thrown away. No from now on he would be living the way he was meant to from now on.

"Thank god for the 'Eternal Guardians'" laughed Naruto as he ran faster than he knew he could through the forest. He was sad that he never learned to do the things that the ninja did, but at least he would be able to live a more enjoyable life now.

**[One Week Later]**

Kakuzu was not the person you wanted to piss off, and he was the last person you wanted to steal from. He was a giant of a man with a temper that knew no bounds and was as deadly as he was powerful.

Kakuzu was very tall with tan skin and had weird eyes. The eye itself was light green with no pupil and where it was supposed to be white it was red. He had good sized muscles designed for strength and speed in mind but also endurance as well. He wore faded dark blue pants with black sandals and white socks. He wore a big black over coat on his body but no shirt because that would just get in the way of his kinjutsu's abilities. Almost his entire head was covered by something. He wore this big grey thing that covered most of his head and all of his neck that looked like a ski mask made of some kind of tough material. On top of that was a faded dark blue headband that was pointed like a triangle at the top and had his forehead protector on it with a slash running through it. His mouth was covered by a black mask, possibly a breather to filler out poisons.

Kakuzu was anything but happy as he ran through his least favorite country after two idiots who he had been chasing after since the Land of Grass which was a border country of the Land of Fire. They had been stupid enough to try and steal from him, well they weren't about to get away with their lives, but to Kakuzu's anger they were good at running away.

"Damn it Midori we are going to have to stop and fight him. He doesn't even show any signs of getting tired" spoke Shiba as he landed on a tree branch and turned around to face Kakuzu. He had his kunai ready for anything that this giant man would throw at them.

"Alright" shouted Midori as he landed on a branch not far from Shiba. He had his hands close together ready to use his jutsu at a moment's notice.

When Kakuzu saw that they had stopped his smirked underneath his mask. He was thinking of just turning them to ash, but then they might have bounties and he was in need of a new heart for his collection.

Kakuzu landed on a branch not far from the two kusa missing nin and eyed them for a moment. They still had their chunin jackets which wasn't a smart idea, even if it did provide a modicum of protection.

"You two made a big mistake trying to steal from me" spoke Kakuzu as he eyed them with his creepy eyes. He watched as one of them started to shiver, but the other with the glasses thought he was strong enough to take him on, foolish.

"I don't think so. We ran because we didn't want any of our former comrades to try and arrest us, but now that we are in the Land of Fire they won't be able to follow us. Now we can kill you and take everything that you have" spoke Midori as he started to go through hand signs. When he was done he shouted out "**Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu**" and exhaled a large fireball that shout out in Kakuzu's direction.

When Kakuzu saw the C ranked jutsu rushing towards him he almost laughed, but he didn't. He started to go through hand signs that were so fast they looked like a blur to the normal person. "**Fire Style: Intelligent Hard Work**" shouted Kakuzu as he exhaled a much more powerful stream of fire that clashed with the giant fireball.

When the two jutsu connected they battled for dominance for a moment before Kakuzu's jutsu over powered the first one and combined with it thus launching it back at Midori, but now it had his own jutsu's power added to it.

"Shit" shouted Midori as he jumped out of the tree trying to get away from the super powered fire jutsu as he watched it burn through tree after tree leaving them nothing but ashes. When he landed on the ground he looked back to where Kakuzu was, but noticed he wasn't there. Then all of a sudden Kakuzu was in front of him and rammed his hand into his chest.

"I don't need a fire release heart, but now you do" spoke Kakuzu as he crushed Midori's heart inside of his chest with his bare hands. Midori's eyes got big before blood started to pore out of them and his mouth. Soon his eyes rolled back into his skull and he was dead.

"You bastard" shouted Shiba as he started to go through hand signs. "**Water Style: Water Trumpet Jutsu**" shouted Shiba as he launched a powerful line of pressurized water towards Kakuzu who didn't even try and dodge it.

"Water release that is the heart I need" spoke Kakuzu as the water jutsu hit him and sent him through a tree as it destroyed the area it hit. When it was all done Shiba had jumped down and was looking at where Kakuzu had been knocked through the tree and started laughing.

"Ha, not so tough now are you" shouted Shiba as he stood in the mud that he had created and looked at the ruble that Kakuzu was laying in. his blood turned to ice when Kakuzu stood up, but now his skin was completely black. "How is it possible, I hit you dead on with my water jutsu" shouted Shiba whose legs were shaking.

"Water release is inferior to earth release, it is only natural" spoke Kakuzu as he stood up. He channeled fire chakra through his body causing the water on him and his clothes to turn to steam then he looked at Shiba who looked ready to crap himself.

"Now I think you have something that belongs to me" spoke Kakuzu as he lifted his hand up. Shiba was scared and tried to run away, but then a hand grabbed him by the back of the neck and started to drag him across the mud as he kicked and screamed profanities.

"No, please don't kill me" shouted Shiba as he did everything in his power to make Kakuzu let him go, but the old bounty hunter wasn't about to let his newest heart get away that easily.

"Be quite" spoke Kakuzu already tired of this guy's whining. He lifted his other hand up and watched as the threads started to come out of his body and shoot into this weakling's body. It only took a moment for Kakuzu to take the man's heart and then assimilate it into his own body.

"Thank you for your contribution" spoke Kakuzu as he dropped Shiba's body onto the ground and started to walk away.

As Kakuzu was walking away he felt an odd sensation coming from close by. He strained his ears to hear anything though soon the sounds of idiots assaulted his ears. He was about to stop listening when he overhead one of them say something about a kid about to challenge them. Kakuzu thought about it and figured he could use some entertainment so he started running towards the where the sounds were coming from.

**XXX**

Naruto was just walking around minding his own business when out of nowhere he was surrounded by twelve bandits all varying in shape and size. They were an ugly lot that was for sure with all of them wielding different weapons such as axes, katana, knives, and other things that Naruto could see they had no real training with.

Eventually a man with no hair walked up to Naruto with an evil look in his eyes. Naruto could instantly tell he was the boss here, and wished he would put on a shirt. Just because you have abs doesn't mean everyone wants to see them.

"Alright brat, empty your pockets and you get to live" spoke the man as he held a katana out as if showing off. Naruto wasn't an idiot, these guys couldn't kill him, but they could beat the crap out of him for sure, but for some reason he was a lot more violent and quick to anger since the silver haired man had turned him immortal, which was probably why what he did wasn't so smart.

"Fuck you baldy! I wouldn't give you what you get after your body gets done digesting it" shouted Naruto with a crazy look in his purple eyes. The other bandits looked shocked, but the leader looked super pissed off.

"You are going to regret speaking to me like that you brat" shouted the man and he lifted the katana up and pulled it back like it was a bat or something.

Naruto wasn't about to let this man cleave him in half and quickly punched the man right in his balls causing him to double over in pain. Naruto quickly grabbed the katana the man had dropped and readied for the attack from the other goons.

"He just cup checked the boss" spoke a rather fat guy as he held his balls in mock pain. His weapon of choice was a large sludge hammer that Naruto was sure he could cause some serious damage with.

"Let's kill this brat" shouted another man, who was somewhat short with two knives he used as his weapons. He was the first to attack Naruto, but Naruto wasn't like other eight year olds.

Naruto had always been fast with great reflexes, so he was able to get out of the little man's attack and launch his own attack. The little man seemed surprised that an eight year old was actually fighting back, but quickly got over it and tried to stab Naruto.

Naruto wasn't about to get stabbed and used the range the katana to keep the man at bay. When he saw his chance he ducked under a wide slash and then sliced the little man across the belly with the katana as hard as he could which allowed him to split the man in half.

"He killed Hatsu" shouted another man as he pointed towards Naruto. This seemed to snap everyone out of their stupor and they all attacked Naruto at once. Naruto as fast and strong, so he was able to kill three of them, but soon he was swarmed and the men started to beat and stab him causing him to shout out with pain.

**XXX**

Kakuzu had to give the boy credit, he was good. to be able to fight off fully grown bandits at the age of eight even with ninja training said a lot about someone, but this kid, even though fast and strong, didn't seem to have ninja training and was able to kill five of them by himself.

"Well the kid did pretty good, but he won't survive this" spoke Kakuzu as he went to get up, but then he felt a spike in chakra and looked back at where the boy was still getting the crap beat out of him.

**XXX**

Many people would think that being immortal would rock because nobody could defeat you and you could go on to be this ultimate ninja, but those people were ignorant and knew nothing about what it felt like to be stabbed by a katana in the hip. Pain was pain regardless if it could kill you or not and there were many things worse than death.

As Naruto laid there getting poked and prodded by knives, swords, spears, and other things, though they only did minimal damage because of how durable Naruto now was, Naruto felt his inner rage starting to build up, and he felt power coming from it. When Naruto felt the power flow through his body he quickly stood up and knocked those idiots away from him.

Naruto quickly picked up his katana and in the blink of an eye he was gone only to reappear with his sword hilt deep against the fat man's skull. Naruto quickly ripped his sword out of the man's head and rushed over to a tall lanky man with a naginata. Naruto cut the man in half at the knees so he fell to the ground where Naruto could cut his head in half. Naruto continued to kill the bandits with sickening joy and brutal efficiency. When he was done he was panting from the power that had rushed into him from his stomach and when it was gone he felt weak.

"Bet you guys don't try and jump me again" spoke Naruto as he tossed the katana at the dead man he took it from and started to walk away. After about four steps a giant man with weird eyes and a forehead protector landed in front of him.

"Maybe I shouldn't have thrown that katana away" spoke Naruto as he started to slowly back away from the man towards his sword. The man didn't even seem to care which surprised Naruto.

When Kakuzu saw the small boy all of a sudden get some kind of adrenaline fuelled burst of energy he was surprised and enjoyed watching him kill those weakling bandits with joy, but what really interested him was that the boy only had minimal damage after those men continuously hit him with their weapons and they were even visibly healing now.

"How were you able to do that boy" asked Kakuzu as he ignored the boy's comment and the fact that he was inching towards the sword that he so carelessly threw away.

"I don't know I just felt a burst of energy when I got mad" spoke Naruto as his fingers clasped around the sword and he picked it up never taking his eyes off of the large man.

"And your wounds, how are they healing so fast" asked the man as he watched as even the worst wound Naruto had sustained had already healed and left no visible scaring or other marking.

"I am an Uzumaki and I have always had a strong healing factor, but after some crazy ritual a white haired man did to me my healing ability has increased further. It is also why my hair this silver and my eyes are purple" spoke Naruto as he held the katana in front of him preparing for anything. He knew the man was a missing ninja, and besides the fact he couldn't die, he stood no chance against this guy.

"Interesting, I haven't seen an Uzumaki since they were supposedly all killed in the Second Great Shinobi World War" spoke the man as he looked off into the distance as if he remembered it as it happened. Naruto got the funny feeling this guy was older then he thought.

"Yea well my village didn't want me to know, for some reason they thought it was funny that I never found out, but I am not stupid, so I found out for myself. This little immortality jutsu that silver haired man spoke of is just a bonus" spoke Naruto as he hoped that the fact that he was immortal would dissuade the man from trying to kill him, since it was pointless, though Naruto didn't want to mention he could still feel pain.

"There is no such thing as immortality in this world" spoke Kakuzu not liking it when people spoke of him being immortal or other's searching for immortality. It was one of the main reasons he never liked Orochimaru.

"How true, anyone can die, it is just figuring out how" spoke Naruto as he kept his eye on the giant of a man.

"What are you going to do now" asked Kakuzu, not really knowing why he did it.

"I don't know, probably look around to see if there was a reward for killing these idiot in the neighboring villages, then after that I don't know, I don't really have a purpose beside my freedom" spoke Naruto sounding a little bit uncomfortable saying that out loud. While he didn't have a goal, he did somewhat have a purpose. He would enjoy every moment he was away from Konoha that was the truth.

"How would you like to learn to become a ninja and a bounty hunter" asked Kakuzu finding the kid's immunity to normal means of death intriguing. It would be nice having someone to watch his back and not have to worry about them dying, him killing them, aging, or receiving some crippling injury that would keep them from continuing being a ninja. After all he couldn't have some retired ninja knowing anything about him, and he didn't really like the idea of having to kill a partner every time they outlived their usefulness.

Naruto was shocked, but not unhappy. He had always wanted to be a ninja, so learning from this guy sounded like a great idea. "Yea, so are you going to make me your apprentice" asked Naruto with a grin on his face. He wasn't expecting to be punched so hard his head formed a crater on the ground.

"Don't get cocky brat" spoke Kakuzu and watched as the boy pried himself out of the hole he had created. 'So he really does have immunity to regular means of death, but there has to be a catch, even he admitted to being able to be killed. This could be interesting' thought Kakuzu as he watched Naruto's body heal.

"You seem to have a good deal of durability" spoke Kakuzu as he remembered the feeling in his hand when he had punched Naruto, but then he shrugged his shoulders and began to walk away.

"Hey just because that didn't kill doesn't mean it didn't hurt" shouted Naruto as he ran to catch up with the giant man.

"Good, pain tells you when something is wrong, without it you could be walking around missing an arm and not even know it" spoke Kakuzu as he walked towards a certain village that owed him some money. He hated even spending money, but this boy was an investment, and he would pay him back triple what he made him spend.

"Yea, but that doesn't mean you have to use me to create a freaking crater" shouted Naruto as he ran to catch up with Kakuzu.

"Deal with it" was all Kakuzu said as he continued to walk.

"Oh you are going to be fun being around" spoke Naruto sarcastically as he continued to follow Kakuzu.


	2. Chapter 2

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 2]**

**(Meet The Fuma Clan)**

**XXX**

Naruto and Kakuzu walked in silence which was really annoying to Naruto as they walked through one of the smaller nations in between three of five Great Elemental Nations. Kakuzu wouldn't say why they were in this country, only that there was a group inside of that owed him a favor, something that he planned on cashing in. Naruto didn't know what that meant, but he felt bad for whatever group had to suffer the giant's wrath, something that had happened to him multiply times along the way here.

The country they were in had its own Hidden Village, which was actually quite famous; it was known as the Village Hidden by Rain, or the Hidden Rain Village. Naruto knew a bit about it because the Hokage had told him some stories about a man so powerful that he was able to wipe out an entire shinobi platoon from Konoha all by himself that led that hidden village.

The country itself was called the Land of Rain, which was probably why the Hidden Rain Village got its name, but unlike the stories of the place the village got its name the areas that they had been walking through only had sporadic rain fall. It was odd really, rain storms would form in a moment's notice only to rain for about sixty second and then disappear, then reappear ten minutes later and do it all again, only this time it would either be longer or shorter. The only time it did rain, it poured. It took almost twenty four hours for it to stop raining, something that Kakuzu punished Naruto for griping about too much.

The foliage was odd to say the least. The trees were oddly shaped with roots sticking out of the ground and then arching up only to go back down into the ground. Kakuzu had been kind enough to tell him a few things before 'playing guide' to an ignorant idiot started to get on his nerves. Naruto also noticed a lot of fungi that grew all over the place; Kakuzu had mentioned that many of the fungi made excellent poisons, and that many of the Rain ninja used them to poison their weapons.

"Hey Kakuzu" shouted Naruto making sure he was out of arms reach. The man had the oddest temper. One moment he would ok with answering questions, the next he would rather try and kill you then even speak.

"What" responded Kakuzu in an annoyed tone that made Naruto thankful he was out of arms reach. He had to admit the boy wasn't stupid, though he hadn't learned to shut up, he had learned to stay out of his initial arms reach, though the boy didn't know just how far he could reach.

"How much longer until we get to where ever it is you are taking us" spoke Naruto getting tired of walking? They hadn't stopped walking for the past two days without sleeping and he was getting very agitated. They had been walking for a week and Kakuzu still refused to tell him where they were going.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up" spoke Kakuzu starting to regret taking the kid with him. Sure he couldn't die, but was living the rest of eternity with someone who constantly annoyed you really worth only having that person around just to watch your back?

"Yea you did, but let me remind you about this. I didn't ask for this training, you offered it, you also took half of my money from the bounty on those bandits and you haven't even feed me. You keep saying I have to pay for myself. Well if this place is in Iron Country then I won't last cause I am starting to run low on money" spoke Naruto, but then he was shocked when Kakuzu turned around and then his arm shout out of his arm and reached out only to grab him by the throat. After that he reeled him in with an iron hold on Naruto's throat even as Naruto did everything in his power to get away.

"Listen here you little brat you are really starting to work my nerves, so unless you want to know what all of your organs look like as I rip them out I suggest you shut up" shouted Kakuzu as he threw Naruto into a tree causing him to cough up blood and slowly stand to his feet. Naruto nodded his head weakly which caused Kakuzu to grunt and begin walking again.

"Jerk" spoke Naruto under his breath, but his blood ran cold when Kakuzu stopped and looked back at him with those cruel eyes. Naruto was sure he was going to start beating the crap out of him.

"Did you say something" asked Kakuzu in a deadly tone that caused Naruto to back up even more. He had to keep telling himself that Naruto was just a boy and that it was natural for boys to act out, but if the boy wanted to be a real ninja then he would need to grow up.

"What me? No I didn't say anything" spoke Naruto as he waved his hands in front of his face frantically. He saw Kakuzu give him that look that said he didn't believe him, but turn around soon after and stalk off. Naruto let out a sigh, but quickly ran to catch up with Kakuzu.

Normally Naruto wouldn't take this type of crap, well not really. He never really took anyone's crap, but since he was used in that ritual he had been even more violent than he had even been which caused him to get in quite a lot of fights while on the road. Naruto had killed quite a few bandits, samurai, and other low lives that thought they could either abuse their power, or rob him, none of them ended well for Naruto's opponents.

The only reason Naruto was taking this crap was because he knew he really wanted to be a shinobi. He wanted to honor his ancestors by continuing their legacy, but in his own way. If the world thought they could just get rid of the Uzumaki like that then they had another thing coming. Naruto had come to the conclusion that he would become a living memory of the Uzumaki, and a nightmare to all of those he came across, but to do this he needed power, ninja power.

Kakuzu was strong; Naruto could tell that with ease, his undeveloped sensory abilities that were tied in with his instincts told him that much, plus all the ass whooping he had gotten as well. If Kakuzu could train Naruto up to his level then not only would Naruto have the skills of a powerful ninja, but he would also have his Uzumaki abilities, and be immortal. That was sure to make him quite the adversary, though he was sure that one day someone would be able to kill him, but until that time he would make sure the Uzumaki were never forgotten.

Naruto also wanted to be a shinobi because he wanted to be powerful as well. All of his life he had been weak; it was something that he was willing to do anything to change. Naruto was going to get strong and then help others like him who had been forced to suffer under the oppression of their villages, or just make a lot of money and cause lots of damage, both had their merits.

"We are here" spoke Kakuzu, snapping Naruto out of his inner thoughts, as he walked up some steps onto a giant porch.

It as a truly magnificent Japanese styled castle that looked like it could host a Daimyo or protect the inhabitance from a full on invasion. It had one giant tower in the center of the castle that looked over the surrounding area standing high in the air on a giant stone slab with high walls and places for archers to stand. There was countless windows with wooden guards around them, and the room was completely tiled which gave it a nice look. The castle was a light grey color with some white in it for a back splash color.

"Wow" spoke Naruto as he continued to examine the giant building. "How do you know these people" asked Naruto as he watched as people looked out of the window at them, while others stood on the roof looking down at them with kunai or other weapons in their hands. Naruto was quickly realizing that this might be a clan compound.

"Don't worry about it, all you need to know is that they owe me a favor" spoke Kakuzu as his hand turned black and he started to slam it against a giant gate that surrounded the castle from possible intruders. Many of the ninja were looking down on them, ready to strike, but Naruto wondered why they didn't.

"Ahh, Kakuzu, I haven't seen you in thirty years" came an old voice from behind Naruto. Naruto quickly turned around and saw an old woman standing behind him with her eyes squinted so close together that Naruto was amazed she could even see.

"Yes, you were recently married at the time, though that is not why I came here" spoke Kakuzu as he turned around. His arm had gone back to the regular fleshy color of his skin and he looked at the woman with that same scary look, but the old woman didn't falter at all.

"I could have guessed that Kakuzu, though the boy is a surprise. I never took you for the type to indulge in such things, though I figured you were at least smart enough to protect yourself from something like this" spoke the woman with a small smile on her face. Naruto was shocked that this woman was actually talking to the short fuse Kakuzu this way, and he was also a little disturbed this woman thought that he was Kakuzu's son.

"He is not my son you senile old woman" shouted Kakuzu his temper getting the better of him, though when the woman began to laugh his anger started to bubble up again. This woman had always known just the right buttons to push to make him angry yet not kill her.

"I see you still haven't gotten over your little anger problem, makes me surprised that the boy is even alive. So tell me Kakuzu, why did you come all the way out here to the heart of the Fuma Clan with this charming young man" asked Mai as she looked from Kakuzu to the boy and then back again. She found the boy's appearance to be strange, but this was the ninja world, so anything was possible. There must have been something interesting about him to make Kakuzu come all the way out here just to talk to her about him.

"I came here to have you repay your debt to me" spoke Kakuzu as he looked at the woman. Naruto was shocked when the old woman opened her eyes about half way and milky white eyes looked up at Kakuzu. She didn't radiate killing intent; no this was much different, and much worse. It was like the air had become stale all of sudden because of this woman; Naruto was now sure she wasn't someone to cross.

"You know I won't house someone you kidnapped" spoke Mai as she looked over at Kakuzu, ready for him to strike for being double crossed, but they both knew she was ready, it was in her eyes. She watched as Kakuzu scoffed at her which caused her to raise an eyebrow.

"I do want you to house him, but I didn't kidnap him. I want you to train him to become a strong ninja so that he can be of use to me. He said he wanted to be a ninja, and I need a partner just in case I run into a ninja that I cannot defeat alone, so you are going to train him to an acceptable level before I take over his training and start teaching him how to be a bounty hunter" spoke Kakuzu as he looked over at all the ninja of the Fuma Clan. They were a powerful clan here in Rain Country with lots of unique techniques, but a faction had left some time ago and settled in the Land of Rice Patties. From what Kakuzu knew they hadn't been doing so well and had fallen on hard times.

"You ask a lot of us Kakuzu. You ask us to take in a stranger, to train him in our ways, just so you can make use of his talents afterwards. I remind you that although we do owe you, it was you who refused payment, and opted for a favor instead. Why should we teach the boy, possibly our secret clan techniques, with no guarantee that they will not fall into another nation or clan's hands" asked Mai as she looked over at Kakuzu, whose eyes were sharp as a blade, and his chakra was rising. She wasn't stupid, far from it in fact. She knew a great deal about Kakuzu from her ancestors.

When Kakuzu was falsely imprisoned and stole Takigakure's forbidden jutsu he was on death's door and may have died if the head of the Fuma clan at the time hadn't had him treated. He didn't act like it, and often times acted like he didn't realize or acknowledge he owed them a life debt, but she knew that he did. Not too long ago they had been in a jam that threatened to severely weaken the power of the Fuma clan, but Kakuzu had helped them push back this threat and save them a great deal of power, face, and members. He knew it wouldn't erase the debt he owed to their clan, but it had lessened it. Now it seemed he wanted to cash in on his moment of partial kindness, clever man Kakuzu was, though very difficult to read. She wondered why he was coming to them for such a thing, he could obviously train the boy himself, so why add onto his own debt while trying to save face by saying that they were the one that owed him.

Before Kakuzu could say anything Naruto cut across him, which really pissed him off. "I know that taking me in is a big risk to your clan, but I promise that I will take every precaution to make sure your secrets are kept safe from outsiders. If you let me join your clan, then I promise that as a member I will always come to my clan's aid when they truly need me" spoke Naruto making Mai smile and Kakuzu frown. Naruto was willing to tie himself to a clan if it meant gaining power, even if it did mean he would lose a bit of freedom.

"Well then welcome boy to the Fuma clan" spoke Mai which caused Naruto to quickly envelope her in a hug which surprised her and pissed Kakuzu off. Kakuzu didn't like acts of weakness, but Mai thought the boy really was too good to be hanging around a hard ass like Kakuzu, but didn't say anything about it.

"I expect him to at least be able to kill like a professional by the time I get back, and I am not talking about genin" spoke Kakuzu as he looked at Mai. "Work him like an animal if you want, it isn't like it will kill him anyways" spoke Kakuzu as he walked up to them.

"Kakuzu you know how over working the body causes irreversible damage that will only hurt a ninja in the long run" spoke Mai as she gave Kakuzu a hard look the Kakuzu easily ignored. He walked up to Naruto which caused Naruto to look at him funny.

"That would be relevant if the boy was a regular human, but like me he is 'special'. He is an Uzumaki after all" spoke Kakuzu getting a gasp from Mai, but not like the gasp she let out when Kakuzu hardened his hand and shoved it through Naruto chest burying his hand wrist deep.

"Kakuzu how could you kill the boy like this" demanded Mai as she looked at how Kakuzu didn't even flinch when he killed the boy who he had gone through all of the trouble of bringing before them asking them for training yet to only kill him at the finish line.

"Be quite, like I said he is special" spoke Kakuzu as he let his jutsu go returning his hand to the tanned color it was before he had hardened it. Mai looked at Kakuzu like he was crazy, but he just pointed at Naruto.

"Fuck that hurt Kakuzu you fucking bastard" shouted Naruto getting gasps of shock from everyone who was watching them. Mai couldn't believe the boy was alive, even the Uzumaki healing factor shouldn't be able to save him from that.

"As you can see the boy can't die, apparently some nut used a weird ritual to give him a form of immortality when he was asleep in his home. Now normal things that kill people have no effect on him" spoke Kakuzu seeing the shocked look in Mai's eyes and a grin formed on his face. When Mai heard of this her mind started to race with possibilities, especially for one of the jutsu their clan had invented, that Naruto could use with great results.

"No effect" shouted Naruto as he stood up. The hole in his chest where Kakuzu ran him through was almost closed up and was still healing at a rate that was actually visible to those that saw it. "I call the pain that it causes an effect, and trust me it isn't my favorite effect for sure" shouted Naruto as he started to rub the area where Kakuzu had tried to kill him again. He was really going to have to thank that silver haired guy for giving him this immortality because without it he would have died a long time ago.

"Yes I can see how the boy would benefit from some of our clan's techniques, especially one unparticular that is also a kinjutsu that results in death, but I figure the boy won't be in any danger of dying" laughed the woman which really annoyed Naruto. Did people really think that just because he couldn't die the mundane way that it was ok to torture him just to demonstrate that he couldn't die?

"Good, but don't neglect his physical training either while you teach him whatever ninjutsu you plan on teaching him. I don't want the boy knowing any fancy techniques or flashy fighting styles; just powerful efficient jutsu with a strong/fast tiajutsu style. Whatever you want to do about any other skills is up to you, just remember that although he feels pain, doesn't mean he isn't benefiting from the training" spoke Kakuzu as he turned around and started to walk off. Naruto wanted to call him a dick, but he didn't want a going away ass whopping in front of his new clan. That would be way to embarrassing.

"I am the teacher here Kakuzu, don't forget that. If you want to decide what the boy learns then you teach him, but if you want me to teach him then you will just have to be satisfied with whatever job I do" spoke Mai as she smirked in Kakuzu's direction. She watched as Kakuzu turned around and glared at her, but she didn't lose that smirk. Kakuzu was the type to want to always get in the last word, so she liked to ruin it for him.

"So Naruto tell me, how long have you been with Kakuzu" asked Mai as she looked down at Naruto who was watching Kakuzu leave with a sad look on his face. The boy must have cared about Kakuzu for some reason, not that she could fathom why, but that was his ordeal not hers.

"Just a week, but he offered to help me become a ninja, something that I always wanted to be, but was always held back" spoke Naruto as he looked back at Mai as she rested a hand on his shoulder. He tensed a bit, but soon he relaxed and looked up at her.

"Now Naruto Kakuzu wants us to train you, and you want to join our clan, but you are an Uzumaki and I can see it in your eyes that you have a lot of pride in you clan. I can respect that, so I won't try and make you choose between our clan and the training or your clan and the feeling you have for it. You want to be a Fuma ninja, well then how about you become Naruto Fuma Uzumaki, as I can guess you don't have a middle name, most ninja don't anyways" spoke Mai as she looked down at Naruto. This boy was an indispensable commodity to their clan. If they had an immortal ninja as powerful as Kakuzu in their clan then they would be able to breathe a bit easier. The ninja world wasn't a certain place, which is why they needed strong ninja to fight off their enemies while they promoted smart ninja to come up with unique and powerful ninja when they were at home.

"Thanks Lady Fuma" spoke Naruto as he bowed his head a bit. The woman smiled down at him which caused Naruto to smile even more. This woman seemed so nice, but Naruto kept in mind that she had had dealing with Kakuzu and was the head of a ninja clan, which meant that she must have been very deadly.

"Please Naruto, just call me Mai, everyone does, even if they don't like it" laughed the woman as she placed a hand over her mouth. Naruto laughed a bit as well, but wondered if that was a threat, or just a fact.

"Ok, Mai-san, so when can the training begin" asked Naruto as he looked up at all of the ninja looking down on him. He noticed most of them had forest green hair and very dark blue eyes. He wondered if like the Uzumaki it was a clan thing.

"Oh, you are already ready to begin training, even after what I am sure was a very long walk with Kakuzu" spoke Mai as she placed a hand on her face like she was surprised, but Naruto knew she wasn't. This woman liked these mind games it seemed, but the way Kakuzu and she had acted told Naruto that she was anything but clueless.

"Yea I have always had a lot of stamina and a good deal of strength, even before the changes" spoke Naruto as he used the word 'Changes' with distaste. He didn't like the fact that he hadn't been given a choice to have immortality like this, even though he probably would have said yes, but it was the principal that bothered him.

"Hm, well it isn't unexpected, the Uzumaki were known for quite a few unique attributes when they were better known before their destruction. I will train you as much as you can take, and then some, so let's get started" spoke Mai as she walked around the large building to an empty training field that the Fuma clan used to practice.

"This place is very nice" spoke Naruto as he looked around. There was droplets all over the place from the frequent rain that would be great for water ninjutsu, of course the ground would be compromised because of the water, but you could still use either earth or mud style ninjutsu, plenty of clear air for wind style, fire style was made by the ninja themselves, so unless they were underwater fire release would usually be the same, and lighting release was the same way.

The was a big field of low cut green grass that would be great for anything that needed some room, and the trees would be good for learning to fight when in less spacious places. The trees were also weirdly shaped which would probably make it even more difficult to train like that, which in the end would only help you once you were done. All in all it was a good training field.

"Are you ready Naruto" asked Mai with a kind smile on her face.

"Give me your best shot" shouted Naruto, completely pumped about getting some ninja training.

"Ok, you asked for it" spoke Mai and then this odd aura, like he had just walked into the mouth of the beast, overcame Naruto causing him to regret what he had said even before he knew why he was regretting it.

"Let's start off with some compound exercises" spoke Mai as an evil glint entered her eyes that caused Naruto to gulp.

**XXX**

Naruto soon fell into his bed that he had been given by the Fuma clan along with the room and all of the things inside of it. The bed was a simple full bed size that comfortably allowed a fully grown adult sleep on it, or two small people about Naruto's size, so this was really nice for Naruto.

The room was really nice as well, with a large symbol of the Fuma clan plastered on one wall in dark black with the rest of the room being a deep green color. There was a desk in the room that was a good size with eight drawers for whatever he wanted to put in them. On the wall was a dresser with a large vanity mirror on it for getting dressed and was made from some nice wood. Everything else was nice, but not really worth mentioning.

As Naruto laid there he felt as his muscles screamed out to him about the pain they were in. Even with his healing factor his body was only barely able to keep up with the rigorous training that Mai had put him through, though most of it was just testing to see where he exceled and where he failed completely. The only thing she told him about the results was that she still needed to add them up, and when she did she would get back to him about it.

"Dear god I hope everyday isn't like this" spoke Naruto as he tried to roll over, but the pain in his back was too much. "Maybe not" spoke Naruto as he turned his head to get comfortable. He wouldn't have thought the little old lady Mai could be such a slave driver.

**XXX**

Kakuzu was walking through the Land of Rivers looking for his newest bounty. Without Naruto slowing him down he could more at a real speed that wasn't as slow as possible. The Land of Rivers was like the run off of the Land of Rain causing deep rivers, streams, marshes, and any other body of water that water could create inside of the smaller country. It really wasn't the ideal place to search for someone since they could hide almost anywhere.

"That brat had better not waist Mai's time, or he will regret it. She may appear to be a frail old woman, but she is anything but. She is a demon unlike any other" spoke Kakuzu more to himself than to the man steering the boat he was on.

Kakuzu didn't expect Naruto to become an S ranked ninja in the next three years, far from it in fact, but he figured being around ninja like Mai, and the Fuma clan, would wise the boy up and beat any childish notions out of him so that he wouldn't have to. They also had a plethora of interesting techniques that you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else in the world.

There was another reason Kakuzu had decided to take Naruto with him. When he found out the boy was a part of the Uzumaki clan he knew he had to have him. The Uzumaki where known as the best trackers in the world, having a unique sensory ability that they referred to as the 'Third Eye' of the 'Eye of the Kagura' that allowed them to sense people from miles around and so many other things. With an ability like that he would no longer have to worry about looking for idiots in some god forsaken swamp.

When Kakuzu got off the small boat he reluctantly paid the man that drove him there and began to walk towards a small town in the back woods of this place. As he was walking someone or something started to grow out of the ground looking like some kind of giant Venus flytrap until a face that was black on one side and white on the other side of it.

"Just what the hell are you" asked Kakuzu as he looked over at the strange person, maybe creature, with hard eyes that made the man thing smile. Kakuzu was thinking about just toasting this thing with a fire jutsu, but the man started to talk before he could start.

"Kakuzu we presume" spoke Zetsu as he looked over at the powerful S ranked nuke nin who was standing across from him with a smile on his white side of his face.

"Who is asking" spoke Kakuzu. He would need to find out who knew about him and eliminate them so that his name didn't spread too much. Some nuke nin went around parading their skills or accomplishments, but they never lasted more than a couple of years. Kakuzu liked staying hidden in the shadows and killing without to many people knowing it was him.

"We represent a group known as the Akatsuki who wish to extend you a membership to join this exclusive group of fellow S ranked nuke nin" spoke Zetsu as he stuck out his hand theatrically like Kakuzu would actually take it.

"What would be the purpose of me joining this Akatsuki" asked Kakuzu wondering what sway, and money, a group of S ranked ninja had. It would be foolish to just ignore them, especially if they tried to eliminate him if they felt insulted.

"To make money of course" spoke the plant man playing on Kakuzu's love of the commodity.

Kakuzu thought about it and had to admit it sounded like a really good idea, but he already had an investment in Naruto which he was going to cash in on in three year or so. Maybe they would let him join for a few years then leave when he was done.

"I already have some things going on that will be put into place in three to four years, if I join, will I be able to leave without this organization of yours chasing after me when my other investment has come to fruition" asked Kakuzu staring at the plant creature, but not trusting it at all. There was insanity in its eyes and that wasn't something you wanted to put your trust in, especially when it was your life or money that was on the line.

"Leader-sama says that it alright, so long as you never tell anyone about our organization once you leave" spoke Zetsu as he communicated telepathically with Pain.

"Sounds like a plan" spoke Kakuzu as he looked the plant man.

"Welcome to the Akatsuki, Kakuzu" spoke Zetsu as he handed Kakuzu a ring that he quickly slipped onto his left middle finger. He looked at it and saw it had the Kanji for 'north' on it, but just shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's make some money" spoke Kakuzu as he continued on to find his target.


	3. Chapter 3

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 3]**

**[I am going to add the three girls from the other Fuma Clan to this one to give Naruto someone to talk to, and for other reasons that will be discussed later. I just don't want to make OC's]**

**(Peaceful Existence)**

**XXX**

Naruto awoke to a blaring alarm clock that had somehow been placed in his room yesterday without him knowing, or he had been so tired after Mai put him through the ringer yesterday that he just hadn't noticed it.

Naruto didn't really feel like thinking about such things and just slammed the clock with his wrist and smiled when the annoying sound stopped. He quickly pulled the blankets over his head again determined to get some more sleep. I mean really, who wakes up at six o'clock in the morning when you don't even have a job?

"Knock, Knock, Knock" came from Naruto's door which greatly aggravated Naruto. He pulled down his blankets a bit and looked over at the door hoping that whoever it was had him something to eat.

"Hey slacker, wake up, Lady Mai said to get ready and meet her out in training ground five, and that I was to escort you there" came loud feminine voice from behind the door. Naruto thought about just ignoring it, but then thought about what Mai would do to him if he was late and thought better of it.

"Yea, yea, I am getting up, keep your pants on" spoke Naruto as he got out of bed and put his pants on. He didn't feel like getting dressed all the way just to talk to whoever it was on the other side of the door, regardless of their standing in the clan.

"Oh I will try to contain myself" spoke the voice in a highly sarcastic manner. Naruto shot the door a venomous glare, but then felt stupid for doing it. When he had his pants on he walked over the cold wood floor to the door and opened it up.

Kotohime had long black hair and black eyes, which was in a princess style cut and black pupiless eyes. Attire-wise, she wore a pale green form-fitting vest, with an opening in the center which shows off her developing cleavage and her stomach, and a camouflage-patterned scarf and skirt. She has a black belt holding up her skirt. She also wears black shinobi shoes.

Naruto thought the girl was cute, she had to be about his age, maybe a little old, but other than that they were about the same. Naruto did notice that she was giving him the one over as well and stood straight showing no slouch in his poster as to give off the best first impression possible.

When Kotohime was told that Lady Mai had actually let someone join their clan she was shocked. The Fuma clan in the Land of Rain was famous and had trained many powerful ninja, so peasants, arrogant noblemen, weak ninja, and a whole plethora of other ninja came to them seeking to be trained, but it was extremely rare that Lady Mai agreed to train them.

The only way Lady Mai would train someone would be if they were able to help the clan in some way, or too one day help the clan. The way Lady Mai was smiling and walking around with a happy aura around her made Kotohime shocked. She wondered what purpose this guy would or did serve, and how he got to them.

She had asked around and apparently the kid had gotten the best representative to get him into the clan, the legendary Kakuzu, a powerful nuke ninja that Lady Mia had known for a long time and an extremely powerful ninja that even Lady Mai respected. That was something that shocked Kotohime and she wanted to know why such great and powerful people had agreed to train this guy who, though somewhat handsome and probably had some skill, didn't look all that special to her.

She had rushed over to his room and had gotten there just in time to hear the alarm clock being turned off, and waited for a moment expecting some powerful ninja to walk out of the door. When she heard some rumbling in the bed and then some light breathing she knew he had went back to bed, so she angrily beat on the door wondering why this was happening.

She really hadn't been expecting such a young boy to open the door, with such exotic features, and no shirt to open the door. She had heard the boy had been 'tested' by Lady Mai, but couldn't find a scratch on the guy. She was starting to think that he was just so good that not even the 'test' was enough to faze him, though from the look of his face and his lithe body that probably wasn't the case.

"Hello, how may I help you" spoke Naruto as he leaned against his door frame and looked at the girl. She seemed to be caught in her own world as she examined him and was mumbling something under her breath that sounded like calculations. This girl was kind of weird, but Naruto just marked that down to being a ninja thing.

"Oh, hello my name is Kotohime and Lady Mai sent me to collect you for today's training" spoke Kotohime as she stuck out her hand towards Naruto. She couldn't believe that she had let her guard down so easily, just because something interesting was happening, and now she felt like an idiot.

"Oh, hey my name is Naruto Fuma Uzumaki, newest member of the Fuma clan, and the guy who is about to get tortured again by Mai again" spoke Naruto with dread in his tone as he remembered how Mai had made him run a marathon the other day through forests, swamps, rivers, ponds, bug swarms, thunder storms, and anything else the weather and terrain could throw at him without slowing down a bit.

"Yea, Lady Mai is a slave driver, but she means well. She is probably the main reason the Fuma clan is so powerful here in the Land of Rain. She keeps everyone in line and makes sure we train our hearts out so we can get strong, and then crams various skills and facts into our ears to make us smart and to help us develop the secret techniques the Fuma clan has been known to create" spoke Kotohime with pride. She had a lot of pride in her clan and it had become a type of honor to create a new technique amongst their clan. This was a great way for them to gain more power without the need of an outside source, and it kept the members happy and content.

"Yes Lady Mai said something about that last night when Kakuzu was dropping me off. She said that there was a few Kinjutsu that I would be able to use without the negative backlash that other people would receive. She seems to be really fired up" spoke Naruto as he remembered her yelling at him for having such horrible chakra control, and that she wasn't sure if he would be able to learn everything that he needed to know by the time Kakuzu got back if they had to spend all of their time fixing his horrible chakra control. The only thing nice about his chakra she said was that it was very powerful, he had a ton of it, and it had an odd nature about it. She claimed she would have to look into it more if he wanted to learn more about it.

"Really? The kinjutsu are very dangerous to use, Lady Mai must really value your skills if she actually wants to teach you one of them. They have been forbidden to us for the most part because a lot of them cause death, injury, pain, or some other cruel effect to the caster, but you must have something special about you that makes you immune to the negative effects of our clan's kinjutsu" spoke Kotohime as she looked at Naruto suspiciously. This guy was odd for sure, he didn't look like he had any real ninja training, just a naturally strong body, but there was no way she was ever going to question Lady Mai, she wasn't ready to die.

"Well the Uzumaki clan was known for its healing abilities and other skills, so maybe she believes with these attributes I will be able to use these kinjutsu and not die. I mean if I heal fast enough, then death shouldn't be able to catch me right" spoke Naruto with a forced laugh that Kotohime didn't go with. She kept on eyeing him, but eventually she seemed to give up and sighed loudly. Naruto looked at her and then thought about something that could change the subject.

"So are you a ninja? Well I guess everyone is a ninja in a ninja clan right? I wouldn't know since I haven't ever been a part of a clan or even in a clan compound before" spoke Naruto as he watched this light seem to go off in the girl's eyes. Naruto knew that he had succeeded in his mission and felt proud of himself.

"Of course I am a ninja, though I am still in training like you. My mother was inventing some interesting hair based ninjutsu before she passed away, so now I am taking over learning and creating my own hair jutsu. I want to make an entire line of hair based ninjutsu that will be both versatile and powerful for the future of the Fuma clan" spoke Kotohime as she smiled and started to play with her hair. Naruto was surprised since he didn't know that you could use hair in your ninjutsu, but he figured anything was possible with ninjutsu. He wondered what you could do with hair though since to his knowledge there wasn't much you could do with hair.

"Well that is cool you got to show me how it works sometime. I haven't ever head of hair based ninjutsu, but I bet it is really cool" spoke Naruto who was instantly face to face with Kotohime who had moved in way to close for Naruto's comfort. Her eyes were sparkling and her smile was radiating happiness and joy as she stared into Naruto's purple eyes.

"Really, you think my mother and I's hair jutsu are cool? A lot of people say that to be nice, but I know that they are just being nice because everyone in the Fuma clan are like family, but for the new guy to say it really gives me hope" spoke Kotohime as she started to drag Naruto to where Lady Mai was. She was going to show Naruto just how amazing her hair ninjutsu was so that he wouldn't have any doubts in his mind about how effective they could be.

Naruto didn't know what was going on. One moment she was kind of distant from his snooping around his business, but the next she starts talking about some kind of hair jutsu or other and started to drag him down the hallways very quickly.

The girl had some strength in those arms of hers and if Naruto had to guess he would probably say that it was because of how focused she was on her goal. She seemed to have a somewhat one track mind that caused her to ignore the people who were looking at them, or the people who tried to talk to her.

Eventually Kotohime dragged Naruto out of the Fuma clan compound and into the open forest where Lady Mai was standing giving them a warm smile on her old face. Naruto thought he was looking at a monster in human skin, because when she was training him it was like he was being tortured with the intended purpose of getting him stronger.

"I am glad you finally made it, I was worried I would have to come get you out of bed myself" spoke Mai with a gentle and warm smile on her face, though to Naruto it might as well of been a cold glare from the icy aura that was around her.

Mai was wearing a dark green kimono with a white sash and white flowers on it. Her long faint green hair that was slowly turning grey reached all the way down to her lower back, but was held together by a pony tail though a few strands of hair did fall in her face. Her shoes were a deep black color and her skin was a bit wrinkly, but other than that she did seem to have kept a fair deal of her womanly charms as her assets didn't seem to be sagging at all.

"Hahaha, well sorry about that Mai, it won't happen again" spoke Naruto as he raised his hand's defensively to hope for mercy. He was happy when Kotohime started to vouch for him since he wasn't sure if he would be able to survive another training session like the one yesterday, even with his supposed immortal body.

"It is not his fault Lady Mai I kept him longer than I should have talking to him. I was just so curious about him that I let it get in the way of my mission" spoke Kotohime as she bowed her head to Mai. Naruto was surprised, but didn't say anything, but Mai didn't seem to mind and nodded her head in forgiveness.

"It is ok Koto-chan, I just wanted to tell Naruto I forgot to check his elemental affinity the other day and would like to do it now before his new training schedule is put into place" spoke Mai as she patted Kotohime on the head and smiled at her. Kotohime smiled back and stood up strait and tall for the world to see how happy she was. She was actually bouncing on the heels of her feet as she stood there.

"Thank you Lady Mai, you are to kind" spoke Kotohime, but Naruto was thinking something a little bit different then her. "Naruto did say that my hair techniques were interesting as well" spoke Kotohime, more to herself than anyone else, but Naruto and Mai did hear her.

"Oh, quit the slick one aren't you" spoke Mai as she elbowed Naruto a bit which caused him to blush. "Play on a girl's hobbies to get close to her then move in for the kill. I knew you had potential" spoke Mai with a smile on her face, though she hide it with her hand like a lady should. Kotohime and Naruto were both blushing up a storm, but they were able to come out of it when they heard Lady Mai laughing at them.

"Why don't you show him some of your skills with your mother's hair techniques" spoke Mai as she pointed towards a dummy that was a fair distance away. Kotohime looked excited and ran in front of Naruto and Mai right before she started to go through some hand signs.

"**Senbon Needle**" shouted Kotohime as her hair hardened and started to just out in random direction. After a moment the hairs started to shoot out towards the dummy quickly before impaling it and the ground around it. The hairs went in pretty deep showing they had a good deal of power to them and they were so fact that Naruto had to give credit to someone able to dodge all of them.

"Wow Kotohime that was amazing" shouted Naruto as he walked over to her. Her hair was starting to turn back to its original shape and size, so Naruto was sure he was safe from being stabbed on accident. "I bet whatever else you come up with will be just as awesome as that technique, and that all kinds of people will be trying to mimic you when you become a big name" spoke Naruto as he continued to eye the damage done to the dummy. He honestly could say that Kotohime was stronger than him right now, but he was sure that one day he would surpass her.

"Thanks Naruto, it really means a lot that you think so much of my technique" spoke Kotohime though the small freckles of a blush went unnoticed by Naruto, but not by Mai who giggled a bit. She saw something forming here, but didn't say anything because it could ruin whatever it possibly was.

"Anyways back to the topic at hand. This Naruto is chakra paper. If you channel your chakra through it you can find out what your natural elemental affinity is" spoke Mai as she handed Naruto a square piece of paper that didn't look all that special to him. "Now Naruto, remember that all of the elements have another element that they are strong against, and another one that they are weak against. Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Lighting, Lightning beats Earth, Earth beats Water, and Water beats Fire. This means that there is no one superior element which keeps things balanced" spoke Mai as she watched Naruto channel chakra through the piece of paper. She and Kotohime were surprised by what happened next.

Naruto was happy to learn about elemental manipulation and started to channel his chakra through it. He watched as the paper split in half and one of the sides turned to dust. Naruto didn't get why Kotohime and Mai were looking at him like that, or why the paper had reacted the way that it did, but he figured they would say something about it eventually.

"Naruto you are very lucky. You not only possess two natural elemental affinities, but they are both strong, with neither of them being a minor affinity to the other as well." spoke Mai as she looked at what was left of the chakra paper in Naruto's hand. It was true, one side had turned to dust which meant he had an earth release affinity, and the paper had split down the middle meaning he did have a wind release affinity, and neither of them were minor affinities either.

"Wow Naruto you're so lucky" shouted Kotohime as she looked at Naruto's surprised and slightly confused face. She had to admit the foxy look he got on his face when he was confused was cute, not that she would ever say that out loud.

"What does that mean, I mean Kakuzu had asked me if I had a bloodline, but I said no and asked him what they were, which he wasn't happy about answering by the way. Does this mean I have a bloodline" asked Naruto as he looked at the paper, then Kotohime, before looking at Mai who had a look of deep concentration on her face. Naruto was wondering if she was matching him up with a specific clan, or if she was just confused like him.

"As far as I know Naruto there is no elemental bloodline for earth and wind release. If it were an element like earth and water I would suspect you had the legendary Mokuton Bloodline Limit, or if you had a earth and lighting element then I would assume you might have an Explosion Bloodline Limit, though nobody but the clan of those with the bloodline know for sure what the elements entails. If you do have a bloodline then it is either a new one or one that nobody knows what elements make up that bloodline" spoke Mai as she looked down at Naruto who had a shocked look on his face, as did Kotohime. She knew that bloodlines were really cool to young kids, especially boys, but Naruto already had enough on his plate. He could explore the possibilities of a bloodline some other time.

"That is pretty cool" spoke Naruto as he looked down at the chakra paper with a smile on his face. He felt like his ancestors were blessing him for the path he had chosen.

"Wow I wonder what it would be like" spoke Kotohime as she looked at Naruto with wide eyes. She was getting more and more curious about Naruto by the minute.

"Enough of that, Naruto I know this possible bloodline interests you, but you are still a beginner at best. You need to work on the basics first, and maybe when you are older you can try and figure out what these two elements mean. It is possible that you were just born with two elemental affinities" spoke Mai as she took the last bit of the chakra paper from Naruto and crumbled it up before dropping it. Naruto looked somewhat upset, but got over it, and Kotohime looked like someone took away a new toy.

"Yes mam" spoke Naruto as he pushed the thoughts of having a bloodline out of his head. He already had to deal with a kinjutsu that he still had mixed feeling about, he had to basically start from the very bottom of the ninja food chain and work his way up, and then of course there were the secret techniques of the Fuma clan that Mai seemed keen on teaching him.

"Good now let's begin" spoke Mai as she got rid of Kotohime and then got to work training Naruto.

**XXX**

For the next year Mai beat Naruto over the head repeatedly trying to make the ninja arts sink into his thick skull. She had decided to keep his learning range wide, but concentrate mostly on his overall physical abilities, so that he didn't have to rely on his immortality so much.

She had Naruto doing mostly compound exercises designed to give Naruto strength, endurance, and speed where it mattered, and not just bulky muscles that would get in the way while he was fighting for his life. She made him do a lot of calisthenics as well to keep him limber and to build on his already good dexterity and overall movements.

She said that Naruto had good endurance and she meant it. The boy was a natural powerhouse just waiting to be sculpted into the perfect killing machine he just needed the right guidance and time.

The most tedious of Naruto's training by far was chakra control. With his 'ridiculous' chakra reserves, Naruto had a hard time learning chakra control to the level that Mai found acceptable, since even chakra control exercises that were meant to give people certain control over their chakra only gave Naruto a limited amount of control because his reserves were so large. This mean that Naruto, or more like Mai, had to get creative with the chakra control exercises, so in the end Naruto ended up having to do things like sticking leaves to his body while he walked across water and other things like that. She kept on telling him again and again just how important chakra control was, and that if he wanted to make it in this world he would need more than brute strength like some people. Naruto has suspected she was referring to Kakuzu, but wisely didn't say anything about it.

The spent a fair deal of time practicing Shurikenjutsu to the point Naruto could use a kunai for hand to hand combat with passing efficiency and throw senbon, kunai, and shuriken with passing grades as well. Mai had said that Shurikenjutsu was important, but training until you hit every target every time was just a waste of time you could be spending learning something new and productive.

The thing that Naruto loved the most was learning to harness his wind release. It was soothing to be honest, even if it was hard as hell. It took Naruto almost the entire year to learn to cut the damn leaf in half with his chakra alone, which only left a few months to learn a few wind jutsu before Mai forced him to move on with their training.

Tiajutsu was essential to Naruto's training. The style he had been taught was very simple which meant Naruto got it fairly easy, but repetition was the main ingredients as Mai had called it to mastery. The style she taught him was simply yes, but she had told him it was a style that he could build on throughout the years as he got older making it a style that fit him perfectly, instead of him trying to fit a style meant for someone else completely.

Over the year Naruto made two other friends besides Kotohime. He met a girl names Sasame and another girl named Kagero. Naruto had been shocked when they had told him that Kagero was actually a jonin, and a powerful one at that, since she was just a little bit older than he was. Apparently she was the clan genius, though she was shy about it.

Sasame had long orange hair that reached to her mid back, though she always wore a black cap on her head. In Naruto's opinion she kind of dressed like a dude with the dark green shorts, the sleeveless grey shirt, dark colored wrist guards, and the brown ninja sandals with long tan socks. She wasn't as developed as Kotohime, but she was still lovely on the eyes and had a nice fair skin complexion.

Kagero was a bit of an oddball. She was about two inches shorter than Naruto with short light blue or maybe green hair that reached the bottom of her neck with two long bangs that hung down the sides of her face. When not on missions she usually walked around barefooted, but when she was on duty she wore the standard Fuma clan jonin attire with the Hidden Rain Village forehead protector under her banged forehead. Naruto thought she too was cute, even if she barely had a small A cup going for her. Naruto did learn that Kagero did know a few of the Fuma clan's Kinjutsu and had already mastered two elements which caused Naruto to be slightly jealous, but also caused him to work harder to surpass her.

**XXX**

Naruto was standing in an empty training ground that was filled with rocks and other things while practicing a new wind style jutsu. It was being a pain in the ass, but he knew he would be able to get it eventually with enough practice.

"Hello Naruto, I see you are still training" spoke Kagero as she walked out from behind a tree that she had been watching him from for the past few minutes. She had always been amazed by Naruto. His never give up attitude had been the force that drove her to train even more, mainly to build up her smaller chakra reserves so that she could use her favorite jutsu more than once.

"Hey Kagero, yea I am still training. I still can't get this damn justu to work the way I want it to" spoke Naruto as he went through several hand signs before shouting out "**Drilling Air Bullet**" then slamming his stomach hard to cause external pressure. When Naruto did this his throat expanded a bit before his cheeks did. Finally Naruto opened his mouth and released a powerful ball of air that rushed towards a tree, but right before it got to it the ball of wind began to destabilize and barely caused any damage to the tree when it hit.

"That is a powerful wind release technique, I am surprised Lady Mai even let you learn it" spoke Kagero, but then saw the look in Naruto's eyes and knew that she hadn't actually given him permission to take the scroll with that jutsu inside of it. More than likely Naruto saw it and just took it when nobody was looking. Kagero sighed knowing that if Naruto was caught he would have to suffer through Lady Mai's 'remedial training' something that was worse than death. Up until now Naruto had only been allowed to learn a hand full of C ranked jutsu, so of course trying to learn a powerful A ranked jutsu would be difficult.

"Well what she doesn't know won't hurt her" spoke Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head like he always did when he was caught doing something or was just nervous. Kagero thought it was cute, but never said anything about it.

"Yes, but if she finds out it will hurt you" spoke Kagero as she smiled seeing the scared look in Naruto's eyes. He may be nearly unkillable, but even he knew to fear Lady Mai. She knew how to fix problems, and Naruto was a problem child if there ever was one, he was usually slick about it though.

"Please don't tell Mai, she might actually find a way to kill me with training alone" spoke Naruto as he got on his knees, grabbed Kagero's hands, and gave her a look that made Kagero's heart beat twice as fast.

"Don't worry Naruto, your secret is safe with me" spoke Kagero in a shy voice as red dusted her face. When Naruto let her hands go she was a bit disappointed, but didn't say anything and just sat down beside him on a fallen tree he was using as a bench.

"Hey Naruto, do you think you will really ever leave us" spoke Kagero in a faraway tone. Naruto looked over at her and felt kind of bad. She had such a sad look on her face as she stared down at her feet that he just wanted to say anything to make her feel better.

"While I don't think I will always be here, I am sure I will always come back to visit. I am a proud Fuma ninja and I will have to come back to the clan to perform my duties from time to time, or just come back to see my friends, that is until you all die of old age and then I turn all senile and angry like Kakuzu" spoke Naruto as he started to chuckle a bit. He was happy to hear Kagero start to laugh as well, but his face turned a few shades of red when her hand rested on his.

"Please come back to see me as much as you can" spoke Kagero as she rested her head on Naruto's shoulder and sighed a bit. She had a smile of content on her face that made Naruto smile and nod his head.

"Of course, I will have to come back to see those who mean the most to me" spoke Naruto with red cheeks as he looked away from Kagero. Kagero looked at Naruto with a shocked expression, but then she smiled and looked over at the setting sun.

"It is perfect" she said little more than a whisper, but Naruto didn't seem to hear her as he was mesmerized by the way the setting sun's rays bounced off of Kagero giving her an angelic look.

'Angels are real' thought Naruto with a smile on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 4]**

**(Acceptance)**

**XXX**

Naruto was standing in front of Mai's desk while Mai stared at him. Naruto didn't know why he had been called into Mai's office, but he knew that it must have been serious by the way the messenger had spoken to him. Usually everyone in the Fuma clan was nice and spoke to each other like friends, but this time the man had spoken with a strict business tone that left no room for joking around.

Naruto had been worried because he thought that Mai might have found out about him learning that advanced wind jutsu last year since he had been practicing with it none stop. She must have found out about it from the damage that he had left behind, and the fact that he was one of the only people who used that training ground.

Mai had made it clear that he was here to learn and master the basics so that Kakuzu would have a solid foundation to start teaching him whatever it was he was going to teach him. She had not so subtly mentioned that if he fell short of her expectations that she would stop training him, since she didn't train idiots, and if he fell short of Kakuzu's expectations then god have mercy on his soul.

Naruto wished he could dedicate all of his time to training, but apparently his lack of an education was a problem. When he had gotten there he could read fairly well having been taught a bit and picked up the rest, but apparently languages went far deeper then he thought with periods, comas, exclamation marks, and all of these other symbols that told the reader how they should interpret what they were reading that Naruto hadn't known about.

There was also the fact that he only knew the very basics in math, science, his history was ok if you lived in the Land of Fire, though the rest of his education was a crap shoot. This meant that a lot of his time was hitting the books, instead of the training ground. Naruto had been disappointed, but Mai pointed out that he would regret it if he let a man scam him for even a penny and Kakuzu found out (Because they would be partners and if Naruto messed up financially Kakuzu would instantly lose it) Naruto would probably be tied to a anchor and thrown into the ocean with only the crushing abyss to await him.

That was a horrifying thought and it left Naruto with a thirst to learn, so as to not end up fish food. Of course being in a ninja didn't require advanced calculus, English twelve, or the other advanced studies, but still cramming what Naruto needed to know and training that he would need to survive in three short years had been anything but a cake walk. If it hadn't been for Naruto's quick recovery, his high energy reserves, and his immortality he was sure he would be dead by now.

Still to say that Naruto hadn't been having fun would be a lie. He had made three very good friends, and the other members of the Fuma clan treated him with respect and kindness which really surprised Naruto. He wondered how a clan of killers could be nicer than common villagers, but he forced those thoughts out of his head and went back to what he was doing at the time.

Naruto often times spared with Kagero, Kotohime, or Sasame whenever he could. Kagero was easily the strongest of them and usually won their fights, unless she let Naruto win, not that he knew that. Kotohime's hair ninjutsu had really started to blossom and she had really made her dream of making a powerful yet versatile technique. She could use it for offence, defense, restraint, or just about anything else she wanted it to do. Sasame wasn't much of a fighter and had chosen to learn other ninja arts such as medical ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, and how to use a tanto. Naruto often spared with her to help her get used to using her tanto, because the medical ninja was the first ninja that the enemy targeted when ninja went to war.

"Naruto I do not know if you are aware of this, but the Fuma clan marks its members with a tattoo that shows the world their pride in their clan. It is the same as our clan symbol, just a large black Shuriken, and it is tattooed on left shoulder of the body. As I am sure you are aware, you do not have this tattoo" spoke Mai as she moved some paperwork out of her way.

Unlike many of the Great Five Elemental Nations, clans could and did take on missions on their own that was not issued to their Hidden village, because the clans had not given up their lands when the Hidden Villages were formed. This gave the smaller clans much more mobility then the ones where were constantly watched and housed in the walls of the Great Nations, though it was more risqué since they were only protected by themselves, and were fewer in number then the Ninja Villages.

The clan head in these situations acted much like the Hokage, but since there was only one clan, no civilians, and not a whole lot of foreigners coming in and out of the village, the head of the clan didn't have to divide his or her power amongst factions that constantly bickered and fought for power. The reason this was done was because no one kage could manage an entire village all by his or herself without either going insane, possibly dying from over work, or messing up and the village suffering for it.

This allowed for things to be kept simpler and it also kept the inner house fighting to a minimum. Without the inner house fighting over things like who would be the next clan head, branch and main families, and things like this, the members often spent more time enjoying themselves, training and getting stronger, or Mai's favorite, thinking and inventing new and unique jutsu. Mai did not hide the fact that she was very proud of her clan for their ability and history of making unique jutsu that were unique to their clan. Though it had caused problems before, mainly other nations trying to steal from them or certain snakes trying to charm his way into their clan to control them, they had always been able to repel these acts and keep their secrets to themselves Mai was proud to say.

They were thankful to the Hidden Rain Village for allowing them to keep their secrets and not try and take them from them. Even Hanzo the Salamander hadn't tried to force them to give him or his village their secrets and this new governing body had been completely neutral to them, seemingly more interested in something else other than their secrets. Mai could only assume Hanzo hadn't tried to take from them because of how much they had helped in the last war, and this new governing body had left them alone mainly because when Hanzo started to deal with Danzō they had stayed away not wanting to involve themselves in such a man's schemes.

"Yea I did notice that, but I thought that I would get it whenever I graduated you training, besides, Kotohime and Sasame don't have the markings" spoke Naruto remembering Sasame talking about it and Kotohime mentioning it with annoyance. Naruto had just thought they hadn't received it because they were all too young, though Kagero had the marking so maybe they were getting close.

"The marking is given to a member of the Fuma clan when they have gone through a 'graduation' ceremony in which the member of the clan completes a certain type of mission successfully. I have decided that it is time for you to take such a mission" spoke Mai as she handed Naruto a scroll. It was a normal scroll, tan in color with the title written on the side, and tied up in a black string.

"Really, what is my mission" asked Naruto as he undid the scroll and unraveled it. He began to read through the scroll and felt his body going numb. He didn't think he was ready for something like this, but he had a feeling he didn't have much of a choice.

"In the Land of Tea, a man by the name of Kyūroku Wagarashi has been making a name for himself as a crime boss. This isn't the part that bothers me; the part that does bother me is that he hired a team from The Hidden Rain Village to make sure that his team wins some race called the Todoroki Shrine Race for control of some port. You see Naruto the team that was hired is led by a man named Aoi Rokushō who defected from The Village Hidden in the Leaves and joined the Village Hidden in the Rain after stealing the Second Hokage's sword. You see Naruto **I HATE AOI ROKUSHO **with a passion" shouted Mai as she stood up with Killing Intent rolling off of her body in waves. Even the people's knees outside of her office were buckling from the powerful killing intent, but Naruto had been trained by her for the past two years and had formed an immunity to it, mostly.

"So I am guessing you took this mission to spite whoever it was that hired Aoi, then kill him for hiring him after I make sure that his family loses this race, then kill Aoi and bring you back his head as proof" spoke Naruto shocked to see Mai this worked up. He couldn't imagine what Aoi had done to piss her off so badly, but he probably didn't want to know.

"Yes, but you are also to take the Sword of the Thunder God from his dead body and bring it back here to me. I want to figure out how it works and see if I can't made similar weapons using that sword as a basis for the new ones. I don't think issuing these weapons out to the rest of the clan would be wise because they would come to rely upon them, but it would be nice to come up with new weapons that were not as powerful as said sword. Once I figure out how it works you can have it if you like" spoke Mai as she sat back down and took a deep breath before slowly letting it back out. After a minute of doing this she seemed to have regained her composure and looked back at Naruto with those milky white eyes.

"Like all Fuma, the requirement to gain the symbol is to complete an assassination mission and prove that you were successful. It has always been this way, as it keeps us in touch with our true ninja heritage. Once you complete this mission you may wear our symbol with pride" spoke Mai with a smile on her face. Naruto wasn't sure if the smile was because he was going to kill Aoi, or if it was because she was proud of him, but he didn't feel like asking.

"So when should I leave" asked Naruto seeing that this was going to happen one of two way. The first way he would do this willingly and do it his way, the other way was he was forced to do it and would probably end up having to do some kind of punishment session with Mai for not doing as she said.

"Immediately, the race will begin in one month, and I would suggest you don't travel though the Land of Fire. Kakuzu didn't tell me exactly why you should avoid it, but I do have my suspicions. You should travel south through the Land of River's and take a boat from there to the Land of Tea. That is all the advice I can give you, the rest is up to you" spoke Mai as she gave Naruto a very serious look. She didn't like sending Naruto away with only two years of ninja training so close to a place that Kakuzu had warned her to keep Naruto away from, but she wasn't going to fight clan traditions that she agreed with just to cuddle the boy.

"So who will be on my team" spoke Naruto cutting across Mai's thoughts. Naruto assumed that he would be a part of a team and he would just have to be the one that killed Aoi, and the other people, and the rest would be done as a team.

"Team, what team" asked Mai looking at Naruto like he was an idiot. Why would he need a team, they didn't need to prove themselves, only Naruto did, so he wouldn't get nurtured the who time whit a team to watch his back and help him.

"You know, ninja work in teams don't they, so shouldn't I be on a team to do this mission" asked Naruto not getting why Mai wasn't just telling him what he wanted to know. It wasn't like she expected him to do this on his own.

"Yes ninja do work in teams, but you are not an official ninja of the Fuma clan, therefore you do not qualify for a team. This is a solo mission to see what you've got and if you can take it in the real world without someone holding your hand. If you want to be a ninja, then act like one. A ninja is willing to put his life on the line every time he goes out on a mission, so you need to be prepared to do the same" spoke Mai with finality in her voice. This was nothing compared to what he would be doing with Kakuzu. Kakuzu won't care how strong or weak Naruto is and will take him on any mission he deems worthy so long as the money is right. If Naruto can't take the heat, then he will be left behind.

"Oh" was all Naruto said as it sunk in that everything was going to be on him. He would have to watch his own back, get his own food, find his own shelter, make all of the plans, everything would be on him, or he would possibly die, should conditions be met.

"Yes, so hurry up. You wouldn't want to fail your first mission now would you" asked Mai as she went back to reading her scrolls, mission reports, and whatever else that was on her desk. Naruto deftly stood up and bowed a bit before leaving Mai's office.

Naruto went back to his room and quickly packed up his things. He used small sealing scrolls he could fit into his ninja pouch for safe keeping along with his throwing weapons. He made sure he had plenty of nonperishable foods in case things got dicey and a few food tablets and blood pills. He also put on his new outfit that Kotohime had gotten for him.

Naruto now wore a sleeveless green shirt that hugged his body showing off much of the muscle definition he had been able to gain from his harsh training over the past two years. He wore long dark blue cargo pants that had lots of pockets for his various things. Around his left hand was a special bracelet Sasame had given him that had a seal inside of it that held various medical supplies. It was nice of her because even though she knew he couldn't die and healed fast she still tried to help where she could. Around his neck of course was the necklace the weird man who had made him immortal had left for him. Naruto's ninja sandals were a dark almost black green and his feet were wrapped in ninja bandages.

"Alright let's do this" spoke Naruto as he looked at a map that he had gotten from the library and looked it over. He found a river that went straight through the Land of Rivers and stopped next to a port that Naruto was sure had some boats that would take him to the Land of Tea.

"Ok I got this" spoke Naruto as he ran out of the Fuma clan compound down the road towards the Land of Rivers. He hadn't said goodbye to his friends, because he didn't know what to say, plus he figured the 'graduations' ceremony was sort of a secret from those who hadn't done it because he was sure Kotohime and Sasame hadn't know, but he knew Kagero had known and yet she hadn't said anything.

Naruto ran through the Land of Rain at break neck speeds trying to make sure he got to the Land of Tea before the race started. He wanted to get a feel for the land before he started his mission, because he didn't want miss something that could be a game changer in his mission.

Getting through the Land of Rivers was a pain. The rivers rose and fell almost without warring getting the boats stuck or caught in powerful rapids. Naruto wished someone in the country would grow a brain and build a damn to stop off of that nonsense, but then again a damn would destroy much of the natural beauty of the country, so leaving it as is wouldn't be so bad.

Finally Naruto was able to get to a port that had a boat big enough to take him to Nagi Island, the main part of the race. Naruto was going to go to the Modoroki shrine and act as a tourist until the runners made it there. He was sure that Aoi would reveal himself on the island of Nagi because it was so far away from the eyes of the government of the Land of Tea.

The trip was long and arduous in Naruto's opinion, but he did have fun killing unlucky pirates that thought it was a good idea to try and raid the boat he was on. Naruto wouldn't have figured there would be pirates so close to the Land of Fire, but maybe they hid out in some of the islands and then attacked when the figured they could get away with it.

Eventually though Naruto landed on Nagi island and quickly disappeared into the trees, after he had paid the man who had taken him out there. A ninja needed to remain silent, and a guy reporting a ninja in the area because he didn't get paid was just stupid.

**XXX**

Naruto had watched the race all the way up to a bridge where a team of genin from the leaf had been protecting a run away from the ninja hired by the family Naruto was hired to all but destroy. He had watched them and on more than one occasion had to use a special technique of his clan, the Uzumaki clan, which allowed him to completely hide his chakra. He was thankful that it had worked, but unfortunately when he used that technique he couldn't use chakra, which meant no tree jumping, which made following them difficult.

Naruto was starting to get pissed though. He had done everything perfectly so far. He had found incriminating evidence against the Wagarashi Family, had made a deal with the city leader to make sure he only arrested the head of the clan after the race, had killed all of the other members of Aoi's team, and had made sure that the other runner for the Wagarashi Family wasn't able to continue running, though he hadn't put up much of a fight even though he was supposed to be a ninja, but Aoi had yet to show up. It was really starting to piss Naruto off.

Naruto watched as the boy, Idate, ran and watched as he was about to enter the bridge that would take him to the other side of the river when Naruto began to smile. Right as Idate was about to step onto the bridge a man with green hair appeared out of nowhere and slashed him across the chest causing electricity to dance across the boy's chest and for the boy to fall down. Soon though his body guards caught up and began talking to the man.

"Who is that unyouthful man" spoke a boy wearing a revealing green leotard that not even a weird hybrid of Mai and Kakuzu could force him to wear. Naruto tried to keep his eyes glued to the kid's giant eyebrows because he was scared of what he may see if he tried to see if the leotard was full body.

"I don't know I haven't ever seen him before" spoke the only girl with two buns in her hair that made her look like a cute panda. She wore pink traditional Chinese clothing and had an abnormal amount of sealing scrolls with her. Naruto just figured she was a budding fuinjutsu ninja.

"Don't worry, his chakra reserves are average chunin at best" spoke the Hyuga in the group. Naruto didn't want these kids messing with his mission, but he could use them to see how Aoi fought and to build his own battle strategy against him.

"I will teach you kids how to speak to your superiors" spoke Aoi as he pulled an umbrella off of his back and threw it into the air. When this happened, senbon started to shoot out of it towards the group of genin, though they were quick to dodge his attacks.

The panda girl jumped into the air and shouted "Childs play" before opening up a seal and unleashing a storm of ninja weapons down on the man. When Aoi saw this all he did was open the umbrella and use it as a shield. The girl landed and looked rather unhappy that her attack hadn't worked.

"Don't worry Tenten" shouted the green boy as he suddenly appeared behind Aoi. He went for a straight punch, but then a weird sound echoed through the air and the green boy went flying backwards with sparks jumping off of his body.

"Lee" shouted Tenten as she looked over at her weird friend, though she was relieved when he started to get back up again. She looked at the umbrella and then at the sword and Naruto could have sworn he saw stars dancing in her eyes.

"So that must be the Sword of the Thunder God Lord Hokage told us about" spoke the Hyuga as his Byakugan flared to life and he examined the sword. After a second he seemed to get what he wanted and moved in to strike. "That sword does have some power, but if you can't hit me then you're as good as mine" shouted the boy as he moved in close range to strike the man. He wasn't expecting the sparks to shoot off of the sword and hit him mid-range. "Ahhh" shouted the Hyuga as he fell to the ground.

"Just like a Hyuga to think his eyes can see into the future and then fail" spoke Aoi as he looked down on the angry Hyuga whose eyes were still active. "I remember a lot about the Hyuga clan. There were lots of them that used to speak with that same high and mighty attitude you do, and they almost always came back dead. They thought that their eyes made them undefeatable on the battlefield, but when faced against an enemy from long range they were easy to wear down and kill. It is sad really. The great Hyuga clan made weak by their own traditions and foolish notion that their tiajutsu style was perfect for any and all purposes" spoke Aoi as he pointed his blade down at the Hyuga. The Hyuga looked like he wanted to reply, but when Aoi raised his sword his eyes went wide.

"Hey I don't care what you do with them, but I have a job to do, so could you wrap this up please" came a voice from behind Aoi. Aoi quickly spun around and tried to slash at whoever had been able to sneak up behind him, but he was to slow to hit Naruto.

"Who are you, another leaf ninja" asked Aoi seeing that Naruto had no forehead protector. He kept on eyeing Naruto, and Naruto noticed he looked at his shoulder, probably for the Fuma clan tattoo, but once he saw that it wasn't there he seemed to calm down a bit.

"No I am not some weak leaf ninja. My name is none of your concern, though you will be interested to know that Mai sends her regards" spoke Naruto with an evil grin on her face that made Aoi back up a bit. His face went from shock, to fear, to rage as he picked up his cute little sword and held it in Naruto's direction.

"So you were sent by the Fuma clan were you? Well I will kill you and send your head to the whore Mai" shouted Aoi, but he was shocked when Naruto started to laugh at him. He thought that Naruto was laughing at the thought that he could kill him, without knowing Naruto simply couldn't die.

"I would love to see that you weakling. When I kill you I will take your head back to Lady Mai and watch as she turns your skull into an ashtray" spoke Naruto as he pulled out a kunai. He hadn't started learning the Flying Swallow Technique, as Mai had not allowed him to do something like that which would waste so much of his time, and he had a sneaking suspicion she knew about his other jutsu that he shouldn't know.

"You won't be able to do anything, because so long as I have the Sword of the Thunder God, I am invincible" spoke Aoi as he held the glowing sword in front of him. Naruto had to admit the sword did provide some great benefits, but it didn't seem to be able to cut through people, either that or Aoi just really sucked at using it.

"Even the second and first Hokage was killed, and they had real skills, not stolen power that they don't even know how to use" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face. He jumped back a bit as Aoi waved the sword and sparks shot off of it towards him.

"If that is the best you can do then killing you will be too easy" spoke Naruto as he continued to dodge the electrical attacks of the sword while throwing kunai and shuriken at Aoi when he wasn't ready. Naruto noticed that the sword seemed to be able to hold onto metal objects and the either drop them or throw them back, which caused Naruto to stop throwing stuff at him.

"What happened to killing me would be to easy? All I see you doing is running away" shouted Aoi as he pointed the sword at Naruto and unleashed another blast of electricity. Naruto just smirked and easily dodge it. His acrobatics were really improving as he could dodge stuff in the air to some degree.

"Stand still damn it" shouted Aoi as he continued to attack Naruto. He didn't see how this kid was from the Fuma clan, he didn't know any of their secret jutsu, use their signature weapon, nor did he seem to have their symbol, so what was his relationship to them?

"Yea I guess I am getting tired of you" spoke Naruto as he landed in front of Aoi and started to go through hand signs. He filled his lungs up with air and then flexed his stomach as hard as he could. Using chakra he was able to compress the air even further before holding up the proper hand sign and shouting "Wind Style: Air Bullet Jutsu" and releasing a powerful condensed ball of wind towards Aoi.

"Is that the best you have" shouted Aoi seeing the powerful ball of wind coming towards him at high speeds, but with complete confidence in his sword he didn't try and dodge it, though that was smart in a way.

Aoi lifted up the Sword of the Thunder God and used it to block the powerful wind jutsu. He wasn't expecting it to be so full of chakra yet be so well constructed. He continued trying to slash the wind jutsu in half, but it just wouldn't budge. His heart started to race when cracks started to form in the sword.

"I won't lose" shouted Aoi as he tried to push even harder, but the wind jutsu just wasn't going to let him do that and when the blade broke on the Sword of the Thunder God, the energy inside of it mixed with the energy inside of the wind jutsu causing a powerful explosion.

When the dust settled there was only the top potion of Aoi's torso, his head, arms, but the rest of his body was gone. The umbrella he had with him survived and was lying on the ground not too far away, and the Sword of the Thunder God was still in Aoi's hand.

"Well that takes care of that" spoke Naruto as he pulled out a scroll and laid it next to Aoi's body. It wasn't hard to seal him up, though there was a lot of blood. Naruto felt something stir within him, but he crushed those feeling. They had not helped him when he had been in Konoha, but the Fuma clan had helped him, and had treated him like family. This was his way of life, and feeling sorry for the loser would only get him in a worse situation in the future.

"Hey what are you doing" came a voice from behind Naruto. When he looked back he saw the shocked look on the three genin's faces. He had been wondering where their sensei was, but decided against it. He didn't need any reason for them to start getting all defensive.

"My mission is almost complete, I just need to seal up this body, and then I am gone" spoke Naruto as he grabbed the scroll he had just sealed up Aoi's body in. They watched as Naruto picked up the umbrella weapon and the Sword of the Thunder God, and quickly got into fighting stances.

"Where do you think you are going with that" demanded the Hyuga as he eyed Naruto with his white eyes. Naruto turned around to look at them not getting why they were all defensive.

"That weapon is property of the Hidden Leaf Village, and we cannot allow you to take it" spoke Tenten as she pulled out another scroll and prepared to fight Naruto. Naruto thought she was crazy, but didn't say anything.

"It is unyouthful to take things that do not belong to you" spoke Lee as he took up the Strong Fist Tiajutsu stance, ready to go all out if need be.

"Home, you can try to stop me, and I defeated Aoi, so it belongs to me" spoke Naruto as he activated the Sword of the Thunder God and held it in front of him. When they charged him he channeled his chakra through the sword causing it to grow in power before unleashing powerful energy blasts towards them. They were down for the count even before they made it half way to him.

"That was fun, but I have got to go, hope to see you guys around" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face as he jumped into the trees and ran off quickly. He left the tree genin lying there partially paralyzed from the sword, though they would regain control of their bodies soon enough.

'Now I can finally get back to the clan for my initiation' thought Naruto as he ran at top speeds towards the port. He had already done everything else he was supposed to, so now he would finally get some free time again.


	5. Chapter 5

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 5]**

**(Newest Bounty Hunter)**

**XXX**

Naruto was standing in a free training ground with his shirt off as he went through the Kata's of his tiajutsu style. He had some new ink work done that he just loved to show off. On his left shoulder was the symbol of the Fuma clan in black ink, and on his right shoulder was the swirling symbol of the Uzumaki clan which he loved to display. Naruto had been so happy after his mission that he instantly went and got his clan tattoo done, but when it was there he felt he would need to represent his clan more and had the symbol of the Uzumaki clan done in black as well. Now he was a real member of the Fuma clan, and he couldn't be happier.

The reason Naruto was going through his Kata's so rigorously was because of a certain message Mai had gotten the other day. It was the news that they had all been waiting for. Kakuzu was coming to pick Naruto up, which meant his skills would be evaluated, and that meant that this was the make it or break it moment in Naruto's life.

He didn't want to get left behind. He loved the Fuma clan and those inside of it, but for some reason he wanted to prove himself to Kakuzu. He figured that was why he had trained so diligently, it was sort of a purpose, to prove that Kakuzu had made the right bet in brining Naruto to the Fuma clan. He would learn what he could with Kakuzu, make a lot of money, and then go back to the Fuma clan when he had repaid his debt. He didn't know why, but the thought of being away from the girls was almost more than he could bear. He wouldn't be gone for too long, so he really hoped that they would not forget him.

Naruto ran through the things that he had learned in his head trying to make sure that he had not forgotten anything, and was wondering what Kakuzu would test him in. It could be the basic shinobi arts like tiajutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu or it could be something like kill someone to prove that he had the right mentality for the job. There were a million and one scenarios that were playing through Naruto's head that either made his headache worse or just filled him with dread.

Naruto held onto the fact that he did know at least one powerful wind styled jutsu, so if it came down to a fight between him and Kakuzu, he knew that he would at least be able to surprise him with that, if not then he would be seriously screwed. On that note Naruto was extremely happy that Kagero hadn't told Mai about him learning that wind jutsu. He could only imagine the horrible things she would have done to him if she had found out.

"Damn it, why couldn't he have just told Mai what he wanted me to learn so that I didn't have to stress over it" spoke Naruto as he plopped down on a tree stump and looked down at the book laying at his feet. It was the book the silver haired man who had forced this immortality on him had left. It was filled with all kinds of religious nonsense, but there were also many different types of blood techniques inside of it. It led Naruto to believe that maybe the immortality was a side or after effect of someone trying to invent some kind of blood jutsu, but were not able to continuously produce blood, so the immortality jutsu came into place to negate the effect of dying.

Naruto had actually practiced these techniques in private. Some of them were very painful for him, but his immortality and his increasing pain resistance had kept him from messing up to many times. Some of the jutsu were actually very practical, while others were almost pointless, or took far too much preparation work. Naruto did find a jutsu that he figured would make a great assassination jutsu, but if you were close enough to someone to get their blood then you might as well just kill them instead of running away to use the jutsu.

Another thing about his immortality jutsu he had found out about was that it could make his blood extremely toxic. This Naruto found fascinating because of the potential it had. Even if Naruto got injured, his blood still had the opportunity to do lots of damage, since the blood could scatter as a mist and then be breathed in by an enemy ninja. The poison was so powerful that it destroyed the DNA inside of the blood making it impossible for him to be identified genetically.

All of these jutsu were painful, annoying, tedious, and usually impractical, but they did have situational value, and they were a part of his kinjutsu, so he figured he might as well learn them. It was a pain in the ass to learn them as well, since even if he stayed awake at night to train them, he would still have to wake up in the morning to do the training that Mai had in store for him. It was annoying to say the least, but he never told her that. He wasn't willing to test the limits of his immortality.

Naruto sensed someone approaching and turned around to see Kagero with a look of sadness on her face. Naruto smiled a bit at her and motioned for her to come over and sit next to him, which she did. Naruto and Kagero had a special relationship that didn't need words, but they still enjoyed the exchange of pleasantries.

"Lady Mai has ordered me to tell you that Lord Kakuzu has arrived in the main hall of the Fuma clan. She said that making him and her wait would not be a wise choice, and that you should hurry up, or else Kakuzu's test will probably be infinitely more painful then it probably already will be" spoke Kagero in a detached voice as she looked down at the ground with an expressionless look on her face and bit unblinking eyes. Naruto sighed a bit knowing that this would happen.

"You know Kagero, even if I do leave the Fuma clan, that doesn't mean that I won't come back. As soon as I am done paying my debt back to Kakuzu, I promise you I will come back to the Fuma clan, and you can beat me up during our training all you want" spoke Naruto with a smile on his face. He did notice that Kagero's face did brighten a bit, but for the most part she remained the same detached look that she had been having since she sat down.

"Even if you did come back all that would happen is that we would all slowly age around you until we were all dead. Even after we die you will still look the same as you did when you reached your peak, or at least that is what you told me. I don't want to slowly fade out of your memories, and neither do Kotohime and Sasame. We all want to be beside you forever, yet that is impossible. You are immortal, we are not, and for that reason we can never be anything more then what we are right now" spoke Kagero as she grabbed hold of the stump that they were sitting on with both hands and flexed them. The stump soon turned to saw dust in her hands. Naruto was confused about what she meant, still somewhat thick when it came to romance, but he knew that her feeling were genuine. He could feel that much.

"I don't know, being immortal does sound great on paper, but when you think about it I find it becomes a daunting thought. To walk the earth endlessly for all time not changing, and having to slowly watch as those you love grow old and die just sounds awful. I would love for you, Kotohime, and Sasame to be with me forever, but I couldn't let you make that decision, not yet" spoke Naruto, but then Kagero's face was in his face and tears were streaming down her beautiful face. Naruto didn't know what to say or do, he assumed she was going to beat him up for some reason, but it never came.

"Why? Why won't you let me and the others become immortal so that we can stay with the one we care about most? Do you not care about us that much? Do you really think that you could go on living without us, or do you just not want to have to deal with us for eternity" demanded Kagero as she stared into Naruto's purple eyes with a fury that only a woman could produce. She didn't want to be without Naruto, and the thought that they could stay together, like this, forever was just an amazing idea. She feared that Naruto didn't feel the same way as her.

"I said not yet, not that I wouldn't want you guys with me forever. I just think that you three are too young to make this type of decision. It was forced on me without my consent and although it led to a much better life than the one I led before, I still can't just give you the immortality knowing the test of time can break even the strongest man. You and the girls should really think about this decision, and when I come back after repaying Kakuzu, then you guys can give me your answer, and I promise that I will respect and honor any decision you guys make" spoke Naruto, right before he we enveloped in a powerful hug from Kagero. The girl was so damn strong, even naturally, that it was amazing, and add on all of her training and you had one bad mama jama.

Naruto smiled a bit and started to pat Kagero on her back and hummed a little tune that she like. She would never admit it, and Naruto would never say it, but she really was a kid at heart. She liked playing kid games, she loved children, she had a sweet innocence to her that made Naruto smile, even though she had killed before. She had a good heart, and Naruto assumed that was one of the things that had attracted him to her.

Kagero smiled a bit and enjoyed the warm Naruto's body produced when they were in such close contact. Her face was already a bit flushed, but when he started to rub her back and started to hum her favorite song, her blush went crimson. He knew her so well, and it was like he had been made for her. They both had dark pasts, but they had grown strong because of them, not letting it get in their way, and honestly his kindness, never give up attitude, and his ability to understand her pain had caused her to become so attracted to him.

Kagero pulled back and whipped a few tears out of her eyes before clearing her throat. "Well it would be best if we didn't make Lady Mai and Lord Kakuzu wait any longer. They will undoubtedly be angry that we took so long, and whatever punishment that equals out for you is unknown" spoke Kagero with a small smirk on her face as she saw the depressed look on Naruto's face. She found it cute, but knew that she would miss it once he was gone.

Naruto's head dropped a bit and he let out an audible sigh. "Yea I got it. Lord knows what a man like Kakuzu is going to do to me once I show up after making him wait so long. Hopefully he leaves my face intact, it is my money maker after all" spoke Naruto as he walked beside Kagero right before giving her a flirtatious wink, before he ran off towards the Fuma clan compound, leaving behind a blushing Kagero who was going to get him back for that, eventually.

**[Kakuzu]**

Kakuzu was waiting on Naruto in the main greeting room of the Fuma clan compound with Mai standing close by. The hallway was nice with large columns and large pictures of past clan heads on the wall. He noticed Mai's dead husband was up on the wall, right beside Mai's picture, back when she was still young and beautiful.

Beauty was a strange concept to Kakuzu. When he was young and care free he used to look at beautiful women back in Taki all the time with his friends, but after nearly a hundred years of living as a bounty hunter he had noticed that when he saw anything beautiful it would instantly age into discrepancy right before his eyes. He figured it was how he viewed things now. He saw what they would look like in ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years' time.

He no longer was captured by the surface world, but now he had a much more in-depth look on things. He saw what their value, looks, and usability would be in the future, not the now, and had come to hold a different kind of value then others had. That was why had had decided to take Naruto, and have him trained in the shinobi arts, by a strong clan that had the right mind set.

Naruto had value to Kakuzu in a way that not even the Akatsuki could rival. Kakuzu was old enough to know that an organization like the Akatsuki would not remain a secret forever, and that someone, be it some powerful group on ninja, the great nations, or any other factor, would swoop in and rain on their parade. It was the way of the world. The Akatsuki would serve as a great place to find information and bounties, but they would fade with time, of that he was sure.

But Naruto was different then the Akatsuki. He would last forever as not even poison, mutilation, incineration, or time could stop him. With the right training he would be a very powerful force in the future, and with such a powerful force on his side, making money in the future would be much easier. He had the pedigree, the talent, and now some solid training, so he would have an endless worth that Kakuzu could exploit at any time he wanted, which would result in him making more money.

Kakuzu wasn't an idiot, far from it, he knew that Naruto would undoubtedly have formed bonds here in the Fuma clan, and would probably miss those that he was leaving behind, but the boy had a sense of honor or maybe it was pride, that wouldn't let those feelings stop him from repaying his debt.

Kakuzu was sure that the boy would want to take a 'vacation' from bounty hunting from time to time, maybe when he became a teen ager and started seeing girls as women, and Kakuzu would probably rather be alone then watch as someone had to go through that hell, he knew it from experience. That would be fine; in fact it would be welcomed. Kakuzu wasn't the social butterfly others thought he was, so being around someone who was so full of life would really get on Kakuzu's nerves after a while. It would be a 'vacation' for him as well, but he knew that when Naruto started to need money, there would be one man to call, and Kakuzu would make even more money that way.

Kakuzu was still trying to figure out what the Akatsuki were going to do now that he had defected. He had agreed to continue helping fund their organization, though only at the stipulation that they pass on any information that he wanted, told him of the latest and greatest bounties, and kept that idiot Hidan away from him.

Kakuzu had gotten in some trouble with the Akatsuki when he first started out as he tended to lose his temper and kill his partner. As one would imagine there wasn't many S ranked nuke ninja out there that were willing to just join some random organization that they knew nothing about, just to be pared up with a man who kept killing his partners.

Kakuzu hadn't ever cared about their anger, but he felt that the leader of the Akatsuki had decided to punish him when he allowed Hidan into their organization. The man was the single most annoying creature on the planet, and Kakuzu had tried very hard to kill him, but no matter how many time he burned, electrocuted, crushed, cut, drowned, or strangled the man just got right back up (If he was still in one piece) and would go straight to bitching again. Kakuzu had been so angry that he had threatened to leave the Akatsuki then and there after only six months with Hidan, if they didn't change him out of his team.

The leader of the Akatsuki seemed to show some form of mercy and granted his wish. That was how he got stuck with the newest member who had replaced Orochimaru. The man's name was Hiruko, and he had invented his own kinjutsu, though Kakuzu thought it was stupid, the man was strong, so he kept his mouth shut and observed, looking for strengths and weaknesses, in case they became enemies.

Kakuzu found the man's persistent search to become the perfect immortal ninja to be both trying and pointless. The man was obviously crazy, though that fact that ninjutsu didn't work against him was a pain in the ass, he was sure that he would still be able to take him, though it would still probably be a close call.

He was just happy that Hidan wasn't on his team anymore, but even then Kakuzu suspected Hidan to have been the one who had given Naruto his immortality. He had the silver hair, purple eyes, and spoke of the god that Naruto had once mentioned, but Hidan wouldn't shut up about him. Kakuzu also noticed that the man had an incredibly durable body, just like Naruto's, which healed very quickly regardless of what the wound may have been, not even leaving scars.

Kakuzu had to admit that Hidan was strong, but his techniques were tedious, relying on his blood techniques to kill his victims, and he didn't even try to use ninjutsu. Kakuzu saw the man as wasted potential as he didn't even use the **Flying Swallow Technique** with his triple bladed scythe, though that may have been because the technique would push the blood off of the scythe which was the entire point of the scythe in the first place. Kakuzu had once thought about mentioning that he should learn the **Hiding with Camouflage Technique**, but thought against it. It was no sweat off of his back if Hidan got chopped up because he was an idiot, and besides, Kakuzu wanted him to get chopped up, maybe it would finally shut the man up.

Kakuzu figured Hidan would continue doing the same trick, over, and over, and over, and over until someone finally got it in their heads to bury him and just leave him there. He wasn't the type to adapt at all, and only seemed to rely on a set amount of skills. He prayed for Naruto's sake that the boy wasn't like that, because he didn't need an idiot watching his back.

Kakuzu was also humbled by the Akatsuki. After so long walking through the elemental nations killing bounty after bounty he had come to the sense that he was the biggest and baddest predator in the sea of criminals, but after seeing some of the things that the other Akatsuki members could do, he felt that he had found others of his kind, but his species did not tend to play well with one another, and had a tendency to try and kill one another to see who was the biggest and baddest of them all.

Kakuzu didn't feel like sticking around when everything went to hell, and although their leader had some weird dojutsu that he had never seen before, didn't mean that he would be able to control eight other S ranked ninja, though his right hand woman Konan, seemed to be very dedicated to him, so she probably would have helped him should things have turned south for them.

Kakuzu was glad for another reason that he had joined the Akatsuki. It seemed that many members were very proud, though Kakuzu thought it was because they were vain, in their abilities, and were not above showing off to the rest of them. This gave Kakuzu a chance to learn more about them, learn their weaknesses, because if one of them defected he would more than likely be the one to go after them so that he could get the bounty. Having info on their skills would really help him out in the future.

Now he was back in the Fuma clan compound that was hidden in some thick mountains giving them a lot of protection both visually and defensively. Kakuzu was just happy that it was so close to Amegakure, so that he wouldn't have to waste time getting to Naruto, which would waste their time hunting for bounties.

"It is good to see you again Kakuzu, though I thought that you would at least wait until the boy was eleven to come get him, though maybe you have other plans for him" spoke Mai as she looked over at Kakuzu with a small smile that he did not return, but a small nod of the head was more than even she had expected.

"I grew tired of the organization in which I was a part of and have come back to see how my future investment was coming along. I hope the boy has become useful to some extent" spoke Kakuzu as he looked down at Mai who only smiled a bit more. He raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything. The woman was shrewd that was for sure, and he didn't want her getting any more of an advantage over him.

"Oh, what were they not making you enough money, or was it that you just couldn't handle anyone taking such a large cut of the profits from your payday" spoke Mai with a grin on her face. That grin only got bigger when Kakuzu started to tighten his hands repeatedly. Mai knew that she had hit a sore spot.

"I didn't come here to talk about the organization, but the boy, now what have you taught him" spoke Kakuzu trying to forget about all of the money he had given that organization to keep it running. He surely didn't want to tell Mai that, or she would have jokes until the day she shriveled up and died.

"Well we did as you requested and built a strong base for you to add onto, but the boy's education was severely lacking, not to be unexpected from one so young, but still even for a boy of eight he was severely lacking in the information part of his training. We had to take a good deal of time to teach the boy the academics that he would need along with teaching him things like how to strategize, read an opponent, and several other small things that mean the difference between life and death on the battle field" spoke Mai as she listed off the more boring things that they had taught Naruto knowing full well that it was angering Kakuzu greatly. She knew that he knew that education was important, but that didn't mean that he wanted a weakling for a partner.

"Great, you made me a scholar, I am sure I can put him to good use organizing and counting my money" spoke Kakuzu with anger in his voice which had sarcasm clinging to it heavily. "I know you taught him the academic parts, but you know that I was referring to his skills. I know your smart, you've trained countless ninja, so I know the boy wasn't neglected in the brain area, but what I need to know is where should I start teaching him" spoke Kakuzu, his breathing starting to get a bit labored as he tried to control his incredible anger. He didn't want to kill Mai; she still had her uses, besides he wasn't the type to break a deal unless he was screwed first.

"Oh, well yes of course, you know we would have been past this if you had been clearer" spoke Mai as she grinned evilly. "The boy is quite amazing really. Besides the fact that he cannot die, he also has several other unique abilities. He has amazing sensory powers, and as we all know sensory ninja are great to have around. He is a natural with fuinjutsu as well, he has great reflexes, and he also has two strong natural affinities" spoke Mai knowing that the last part would greatly interest Kakuzu, though she was positive that all of it was interesting Kakuzu from the look on his face.

Kakuzu thought about what Mai said and had to admit he liked what he was hearing. Sensory ninja were as loved, if not more so because of their scarcity, as bloodlines by villages. They were almost impossible to sneak up on, made great trackers, and were great when fighting in places that hampered the natural eye sight.

Fuinjutsu users were great as well, though Kakuzu had expected that as well as the sensory abilities, since it was a common thing among the Uzumaki clan. He was thrilled to have a ninja with this much potential in areas of the ninja arts that others had almost no idea about. Many disregarded fuinjutsu, but Kakuzu and the leaders of the great villages knew just how powerful and useful these skills were. They said that the number of people who exceled in fuinjutsu was only about one one hundredth of the number of people who were sensory ninja.

The two affinities had really interested Kakuzu. With his immortality, even if his heart was destroyed like Kakuzu's, he would still be able to function without it, and not be hampered by the weakening of his jutsu. Kakuzu knew that it was usually only people with elemental bloodline who had two natural affinities, but it was possible it was a side effect of the immortality jutsu that had been placed upon him.

"What are the two elements that they boy possesses, and what is his skill using them" spoke Kakuzu as he looked over at the old woman that he had come to know. Honestly as sad as it was to say, she was the closest thing to a friend he had, but he would never admit that.

"The boy has mastered the elemental training for both elements, and knows a few low level jutsu for both of them, but other than that his elemental jutsu arsenal is pretty thin" spoke Mai, remembering all of the times she had to tell Naruto no, that he couldn't waste all of his time learning powerful jutsu, though she had suspected he had been learning behind her back.

After that they went on to talk about Naruto's training and his life here in the Fuma clan. Kakuzu was happy that the boy had already killed, and learned the basics of retrieving a body and what not, though he was sure he would have to teach the boy the finer points of being a bounty hunter.

About an hour into their conversation Naruto and Kagero came running into the room at quick speeds. They seemed to be in good spirits, though Naruto did seem a little tense. Mai smiled knowing how excited the boy was to learn from a living legend like Kakuzu, but all great things came with a price.

"Your late brat" spoke Kakuzu as he looked at Naruto with his weird eyes. He noted that Naruto looked far more capable then he had when they had first met.

"Yea, sorry about that, I was out training in one of the farther training fields when I got the info" spoke Naruto as he scratched the back of his head nervously. That look Kakuzu was giving him was making him nervous.

"It doesn't matter, all that matters is now. Now follow me, it is time to see what you can do, or see if you are just a big dud" spoke Kakuzu as he walked out of the compound quickly. Naruto nodded his head and quickly followed Kakuzu.

"You know he will come back, he won't leave you girls alone for long, I am sure of it" spoke Mai as she looked at the sad look on Kagero's face with a small warm smile of her own. Ah, young love.

"I just hope he doesn't change. I want Naruto to always be the same kind person that he is today" spoke Kagero as she held onto the note that Naruto had given her. He promised he would come back for them, and he always kept his promises.

**[Training Ground]**

Kakuzu stopped in a big green training field that had all the things you would need to learn ninjutsu or to fight for your life. He stopped and turned around giving Naruto a hard look that Naruto returned, determined not to look weak.

"All you have to do is show me what you have learned, other than that I will be the judge of" spoke Kakuzu, though he didn't even get into a tiajutsu stance, which pissed Naruto off.

Naruto didn't even speak; he just launched himself at Kakuzu. When he got close enough he started to unleash a powerful barrage of punches that Kakuzu easily caught, or pushed away, or simply dodged. Naruto wasn't done and quickly jumped up into the air to give Kakuzu a spin kick to the head, only for his leg to be caught in one of Kakuzu's hands and then smashed into the ground.

"Your punches and kids have plenty of speed and power in them, but there was no fancy moves or overly wasted moments so you pass tiajutsu, now show me some ninjutsu" spoke Kakuzu as he jumped back to give Naruto a little breathing room.

"Ninjusu? You want ninjutsu, well then I will give you ninjutsu" spoke Naruto as he started to go through a series of hand signs before stopping. With a giant breath he sucked in plenty of air and then compressed it in his lungs before pushing it into his throat then into his mouth. "**Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet**" shouted Naruto as he unleashed the powerful A ranked jutsu towards Kakuzu.

Kakuzu for his part was shocked at the power Naruto had been able to put into that wind jutsu without ripping his lungs or destroying his throat. He would need to talk with Mai, because that was way more than a few low level jutsu.

Kakuzu didn't want to try and block the jutsu, mainly because he didn't want to waste the chakra, and because he wanted to see the damage the jutsu would inflict. When he did dodge the wind jutsu he wasn't disappointed by the destruction it caused. It seemed that Naruto had plenty of chakra, and wind release training to be useful. When he landed, he was quickly surrounded by a black three dimensional triangle that restricted his moments.

"**Curse of Mandala**" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face as his hands were held in a triangle formation with his thumbs and index fingers touching one another. He pushed his hands closer together and the technique started to compress around Kakuzu.

Kakuzu watched Naruto and the stupid grin on his face, but the boy wasn't laughing for long when a hand shout out of the ground and pulled his legs out from under him, causing him to lose control of the technique, which freed him. Kakuzu quickly reattached his arm, and grinned when he saw the annoyed look on Naruto's face.

"You pass ninjutsu as well, and since Mai told me you're chakra reserves hinder you from using genjutsu, and she assures me that your **genjutsu release technique** is up to par we will just leave genjutsu alone for now" spoke Kakuzu as he walked to Naruto and then handed him a tanto.

Naruto looked at the tanto in his hand and noticed it had a strange white chakra around the blade. He thought it was really cool and started to examine from every angle. He grabbed the sheath and placed it on his back where he could get it any time he needed.

"That is a powerful and highly expensive weapon I picked up during the Third Shinobi World War. I have decided to take you with me, so think of it as your graduation present. Now I am going to teach you a jutsu so shut up" spoke Kakuzu as he pulled a kunai out of his pocket and channeled his chakra through it. Eventually you could see electricity jumping around the kunai. "This is called streaming your chakra. The jutsu I am going to teach you are the wind variation of this technique called the **Flying Swallow Technique**" spoke Kakuzu and soon he started to teach Naruto the highly useful and nearly indispensable skill that all real ninja should know.

Naruto was having so much fun. A good fight, a new jutsu, and an exciting future was beckoning for him, and he was going to grab this bull by the horns.


	6. Chapter 6

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 6]**

**(Newest Kinjutsu)**

**XXX**

Kakuzu and Naruto were walking through the Land of Hot Water, and honestly Naruto didn't see why so many people came to this country just to gamble and take bathes that were just a bit hotter than usual. Naruto felt that people who had the money to waste their time doing ridiculous stuff like that were just problems, and should be dealt with for their laze fair attitude when they could use that money to help others who actually needed it.

The country was the epitome of what a happy country should be. The sky was a beautiful blue color with large fluffy white clouds drifting aimlessly through the sky without a worry in the world. The grass was lush green and was obviously full of minerals if the fat animals they had seen recently were anything to go on. The trees were pines, a type of tree that Naruto really didn't like since the 'leaves' were really just sharp green needles that poked and prodded you every time you brushed against them. The people were happy and content as well, and their homes were quint and comfortable. All in all it was a real snooze fest in Naruto's opinion.

Naruto liked countries like the Land of Rain that had darkened skies that hid ninja ready to pounce at any moment. The nonstop rain really gave the ominous feeling that Naruto enjoyed when he went into battle knowing that destruction was not far away. He didn't feel bad about destroying lands like those in the Land of Rain, because honestly it was already so messed up that you couldn't tell the difference. Naruto felt that this country was due for a war soon, especially since there were only weak samurai wanabees protecting it from foreign invaders.

Naruto had been walking hours now only seeing the back of Kakuzu's cloak knowing that the man wasn't really into the whole talking thing really left, for Naruto, an awkward silence that he wished would be filled. Kakuzu had been teaching him more advanced ninja skills for a while now, and felt it was time to start getting some real experience, but Naruto knew that was an excuse for Kakuzu to get back to making money.

They had started off with what Naruto believed was an insult to his skills. Kakuzu had basically told Naruto that he believed that his skills were that of a common genin and took him to the Land of Honey to wipe out a group of bandits that he been terrorizing the lands. Naruto had been so insulted, but no to the point that common sense left him, and channeled that anger into killing the bandits efficiently yet brutally. Naruto felt so ashamed that Kakuzu believed that all his skills equaled up to were killing lousy bandits and was even angrier when Kakuzu kept on having him kill more and more bandits for whatever money they were worth.

Naruto had been able to test out a few of his jutsu that had interested him on the bandits though, so it wasn't all bad. Mai had taught him how to kneed his chakra instead of converting it into an element to give him some diversity. Like all ninja from the Land of Rain, the Fuma clan excelled at poison based skills, and Mai had been more than kind enough to teach him how to use his poisonous blood as jutsu. It was interesting and fun at the same time, plus useful since he wouldn't have to make his own poison from now on which saved money, something Kakuzu loved.

He watched with fascination as large groups of bandits choked to death after inhaling his **Blood Mist Jutsu**, and die almost instantly. Mai had been shocked when she found out about his blood jutsu, and after examining his blood said it would only take the tiniest whiff for the poison to enter the body and kill you. It also had the added bonus of not destroying the bandits things, meaning there was a lot less damaged items when compared to usual.

Naruto had gotten to meet a few of Kakuzu's connections which was pretty cool, all though Kakuzu didn't like for him to know too much about his secret connections in the underground world. Naruto found out where some of the black market hideouts were, how to trade in a bounty for money, and how to get information on the latest what's happening.

"We are here" spoke Kakuzu as he looked at a small town nestled against the surrounding forest. He had to admit he wasn't a fan of places like this either since he felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb. The people usually dressed in light happy colors while he and Naruto were dressed in dark ominous colors.

"Where is here? You haven't told me anything other than we got a new target" spoke Naruto getting really pissed that Kakuzu was ignoring him recently. After the last time he killed a large group of bandits, that surprisingly had some ninja in it, not that it was a problem for Naruto; Kakuzu had been quite and had brought them to this… happy place without telling Naruto why.

"I have come to the decision that you are going to learn how to use my jutsu" spoke Kakuzu without even looking at Naruto and began walking towards the small town. "For that we need to be in a place where there are not a lot of ninja who could be a threat, and a place that has everything we need. This place is perfect for that" spoke Kakuzu with distaste in his voice.

Kakuzu wasn't happy about this any more than Naruto was. They were both used to the darkness, the cold and dangerous, being in this happy, safe, warm place really didn't suit him, but Naruto needed a safe place to learn to harness his power, and this was the best place for that.

When Kakuzu saw that Naruto was strong enough to kill four chunin ninja from the Land of Frost he knew that the boy was ready to receive his power. It wasn't that Naruto was weak and needed his power, it was just interesting to think what Naruto would be like with his own power, and his [Kakuzu's] power mixed together. As far as Kakuzu could see the immortality technique that was placed on Naruto gave him advanced physical capabilities, the ability to survive nearly any wound, and heightened senses as well. It was obviously a close range ability where Kakuzu's power was all around though was best at mid-range.

Kakuzu had been thinking about it for a long time and honestly there was one real reason he had decided to do this, the Akatsuki. He didn't believe for a second that a group of ten S ranked ninja would let him just walk away like that. He was almost positive they would send one or two other S ranked ninja to come and deal with him. fighting one S ranked ninja was hard enough, fighting two was damn near suicidal, though Kakuzu was sure he could survive, maybe having to play possum, but if Naruto was around and strong enough he wouldn't have to worry about that.

One thing Kakuzu loved about his power was that it allowed him to fight someone from multiply angles causing the enemy to have to watch out for more than just one ninja. It also had the added bonus of allowing him to fight with multiple elements, from the air, and on the ground all at the same time. With all this going on, Kakuzu's enemies rarely had the skills to defend themselves for long.

While Kakuzu knew that he was strong, and his powers were great, he couldn't lie to himself and say that there was not any other ninja who were stronger than him. Deidara was a prime example of this with his powerful Explosion Jutsu and other techniques that caused wide spread damage, though if push came to shove Kakuzu believed he could win if he took advantage of Deidara's cocky attitude. Kisame was a real problem for Kakuzu since Kakuzu usually used a wide range of ninjutsu to defeat his enemies, and Kisame had the Shark Skin Sword which at mass amounts of chakra basically nullifying his ninjutsu completely. No if he wanted to survive he would need to train Naruto up to his level so that when the time came he could have someone watch his back.

Kakuzu did have to admit, if only in his head, that Mai did a good job training Naruto. His body was very strong and his fighting style was solid leaving room for improvement and improvisation. The boy knew a good amount of ninjutsu and had already mastered two elements, an offensive element that also acted as a supplementary element, and a defensive element. That didn't include the unique jutsu that Mai had taught him that had been invented by the Fuma clan.

"What do you mean training" asked Naruto. He had been training while on the move, and honestly he had learned a wide range of jutsu for his wind and earth affinities, though Kakuzu refused to teach him the **Iron Skin Jutsu** which Naruto really wanted to learn, and more advanced wind release jutsu.

"I am going to give you the Earth Grudge Fear, and then I am going to leave you here" spoke Kakuzu as he entered the town. He wasn't surprised when people parted in the streets to let him by while the adults looked at him with fear and the children with ah.

"Wait a second you're going to leave me? Why? Aren't you going to take me with you? What happened to you making me a powerful bounty hunter like you" spoke Naruto in an accusing voice. He didn't see where Kakuzu was going with all of this and why he was helping him only to leave him sitting on the side lines.

Kakuzu pushed a man out of his way that hadn't seen him coming causing him to fall on the ground as Kakuzu walked on by. "I am going to give you the Earth Grudge Fear, but it will take time for it to adapt to your body, and possibly longer due to your already unique situation. I don't have time to sit around babysitting you so while you get used to the Earth Grudge Fear I will be out bounty hunting to make more money" spoke Kakuzu as he continued walking through the streets.

"Then why didn't you leave me at the Fuma Clan Compound so that I would be safe while the Earth Grudge Fear adapts to my body? I wouldn't have to worry about being attacked or anything like that if I were with them" spoke Naruto missing his friends in the Fuma clan already. He hadn't seen them in a year and he was hoping that they hadn't forgotten him or something like that.

Kakuzu stopped and wheeled around staring into Naruto's eyes with his own. Naruto took a step back in shock, but held his ground not wanting to appear weak in Kakuzu's presence. "You have gotten to comfortable relying on the Fuma clan to hold your hand while training. You have to learn to train and watch your back at the same time if you wish to survive in this world" spoke Kakuzu as he turned back around and continued walking.

"Ok, so what is it that I am supposed to be doing while the Earth Grudge Fear adapts to my body, and you're gone" spoke Naruto not really getting what he would do for a whole year with Kakuzu being gone. It wasn't like he could train his self he really had no idea what he would need to do to get stronger besides increasing his physical training and trying to come up with his own jutsu.

"You will only be staying here for the first few months as that is the most painful and enduring part of the process. After that, when you are able to move at an acceptable pace, you are to incorporate the Earth Grudge Fear into you fighting style so that you can use it to its greatest degree possible. If and only if you are able to do this will I let you keep the Earth Grudge Fear after the one year period, if you fail then you will have to endure as I pull out thousands of strings from your body in a slow antagonizing painful way" spoke Kakuzu without an ounce of pity, but there was a truck load of foreboding in his tone. Naruto knew that Kakuzu wasn't lying about what he would do if he failed, so he nodded his head and started to prepare for what was to come.

Naruto went to say something, but then a group of samurai showed up and surrounded them. Naruto reached for his tanto that Kakuzu had given him, but Kakuzu made a motion for him to stop so he did. Naruto watched as the samurai looked from Kakuzu with weary looks, to him with looks of confusion and pity. It burned Naruto that he wasn't getting the same respect as Kakuzu, but he bottled it up knowing that eventually his time would come.

Kakuzu didn't visibly react, but Naruto could tell that he was angry, not that he really ever wasn't. "What is going on here" demanded Kakuzu in his gravelly voice that sent chills down the otherwise fearless samurai's spines.

The captain stepped forward and stood before Kakuzu with a brave face which surprised Naruto. "We have received reports that a suspicious man was walking through out town with a young man in his company. We are just here to make sure nothing illegal is going on" spoke the captain as he looked behind Kakuzu towards Naruto.

Naruto realized that the captain was trying to figure out if he had been captured or if he was there on his own free will. "Don't worry I am his apprentice, not his captive, so no worries" spoke Naruto as he gave the captain a dismissive wave that left no room to believe he was faking or anything.

The captain seemed pleased with what he saw and began to interrogate Kakuzu, not very smart. "We would like to know why you have entered out village missing nin" spoke the captain as he rested his hand on his katana. Naruto just wanted to sigh since this wasn't the first time Kakuzu's refusal to take off his headband had gotten them into trouble.

"I am just passing by, but my young charge will be staying in this town for a month or two while he gets over a sickness. I am not a doctor, nor am I his babysitter, so either he takes care of himself or I will leave him here" spoke Kakuzu in a cold tone that spoke of how he wouldn't care if his apprentice died since he would just move on without a care in the world.

"Isn't that a bit harsh? The boy has put his trust in you, and you're just going to abandon him to take care of himself just because he got a little sick" spoke the captain in a disgusted tone as he looked up into Kakuzu's green eyes, but all he saw was anger and fire so be backed up a bit.

"Harsh times makes one stronger, in a way you could say I am doing this for the boy's own good" spoke Kakuzu, but then he heard something that sounded like 'Yea right' coming from behind him only to look back and see his apprentice looking away with an innocent look on his face. He narrowed his eyes at the now sweating Naruto, but decided the samurai captain was more important so he looked back at the metal garbed man.

"Well he is your charge, so there is not much I can do about it, but I will warn you to be careful when under my watch" spoke the man before he and his group of samurai walked off to go do whatever it was they did.

Naruto saw the almost disappointed looks on the people's faces like they had wanted them to be arrested or something, but then he realized Kakuzu was letting off a small amount of killer intent and the people were just scared. Naruto sighed knowing that Kakuzu was not going to be in a bad mood.

"Come along runt" spoke Kakuzu in a harsh tone as he began to walk further into the village with Naruto fallowing quickly behind.

**XXX**

Kakuzu hadn't been very pleasant after the little run in with the samurai guard of the village, and honestly Naruto was surprised that Kakuzu hadn't just killed him like he had tried to do to Naruto so many times, but then again it was possible Kakuzu wasn't trying to make any commotion that would lead to other ninja showing up. The point of coming here was to avoid enemy ninja after all.

He used an interesting jutsu called the **Earthen Home Jutsu** which he didn't teach Naruto, which again really pissed Naruto off. The **Earthen Home Jutsu** made a two bedroom house out of earth which surprisingly had paper windows and other comforts that were not made out of earth. Naruto actually had a bed, though it felt like it was made out of comfortable shifting sand, but he never brought it up with Kakuzu since the man didn't like talking about jutsu he invented for some reason.

Kakuzu had decided that living inside of the town would draw to much attention to Naruto, so he brought Naruto out into the forest and found a nice sized clearing and used his jutsu to make a house at the edge for Naruto. in all honest it was much nicer then what Naruto had assumed Kakuzu would do, which was just leave him stranded somewhere without anything and expect Naruto to make it on his own.

In the center of the house was a fire pit that went about a foot down and was filled with wood that Naruto had to gather himself. To the side was a large pile of wood that Naruto had carried here after using a wind jutsu to chop them up, but it was Kakuzu who used the fire jutsu to get the fire started.

As they sat on either sides of the fire looking at it, and in Naruto's case looking at it then Kakuzu, Kakuzu seemed to finally get annoyed and reached into his cloak and pull out a single string that was a dark grey purple color. What was really weird in Naruto's opinion was it was moving around like a worm or something and it sat perched between Kakuzu's thumb and middle finger.

"Nice thread worm" spoke Naruto breaking the silence that permeated the earthen home. Kakuzu was just staring at him at first, but then his face turned to one of anger after Naruto said that.

"Shut up you little brat and listen well. This is a thread of the Earth Grudge Fear, and it will be the origin for the Earth Grudge Fear that will grow inside of you. You see this is how the Earth Grudge Fear develops; it eats away at the user's chakra growing and multiplying inside of them while connecting to that person's chakra network and organs like a second chakra network. This is why so many died in the past when trying to adapt to the Earth Grudge Fear, it was because they either died from the damage to their bodies, or their career as ninjas was ended when it damaged their chakra system" spoke Kakuzu given an emphasis on that last bit letting Naruto know that even though this wouldn't kill him, it could end his career as a ninja.

Naruto sat up a bit straighter on his chair when he heard that. He was excited to learn about whatever power Kakuzu had, although he had no idea what it was, but this new danger really had him worried. He didn't want to lose the power he had trained too hard to gain, but Kakuzu was very strong, and if he could get that power then maybe it was worth the risk.

"I can see in your eyes that you understand what this means don't you" spoke Kakuzu seeing that Naruto was serious all of a sudden. The boy knew what it meant to be feared, to kill, to fear, and to be killed. He was more deserving of this power than any before him, but it would all depend on whether he had what it took to gain the power he so desperately wanted.

"To lose the ability to use chakra would almost assuredly end my ninja career, but as I am now I am not strong enough to get what I want, so I will stand up to any challenge and defeat it with my head held high and do what I must to get stronger" spoke Naruto with a determined look in his eyes. Kakuzu smirked a bit and then pushed his hand forward.

"Show me your wrist, and we will begin" spoke Kakuzu as he extended the hand with the weird string in it. Naruto did as he was told and reached out with his right hand wrist held up high.

Naruto watched as Kakuzu placed the weird string on his wrist, and for a brief moment nothing happened, but then the string arched upwards and then shot down straight into Naruto's wrist.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH" shouted Naruto as he fell to the ground squeezing his wrist as hard as he could. He could feel the string moving through his arm towards the rest of his body, and it felt like every nerve in his body was being dipped in acid that was being electrocuted.

The pain was indescribably, even more so then when he gained his immortality, but this time there was no dark voices in his head, but unfortunately his mother never came to fight the pain away. Naruto felt a bit sad, but he had no time to complain as the pain continued to increase.

Every second it felt like the string would divide inside of his arm and then those two strings would divide and then those four would divide and so on and so forth. Naruto looked at his arm and nearly threw up when he saw what looked like worms, snakes, strings, and other things like that moving under his arm building at the skin on top.

The worst part though was his anxiety started to act up as the pain of the thread things in his arm slowly crept through his arm towards the rest of his body. Naruto screamed as he felt countless threads moving from his arm up the side of his face, into his heart, and down his side poking, stabbing, and rubbing against everything they liked.

The process was slow and painful there was no doubt about that. Naruto could feel the threads covering his body and hooking to everything inside of his body. It was like the threads were connecting themselves to every cell in Naruto's body, and there wasn't anything that was going to stop them from doing their mission.

Kakuzu watched with fascination as Naruto looked to be housing countless snakes beneath his skin. If he had a funny bone in his body he would have made a joke about how this reminded him of Orochimaru and his snake jutsu that came out of his mouth, but this was Kakuzu, so there was no way he was going to do that.

Watching Naruto scream in pain and wither on the floor brought back a lot of memories for Kakuzu. He remembered when he stole the Earth Grudge Fear from Taki and applied it to himself and had to go through exactly the same thing Naruto was going through. He remembered when he had gotten better he went back to Taki and stole the hearts of those who had tried to punish him for failing his mission though to no fault of his own by stealing their hearts with his new kinjutsu.

For almost eighty years Kakuzu had the Earth Grudge Fear all to himself using it to keep him alive, defeat his enemies and master jutsu from all five of the basic elements that would put may to shame. He had incorporated the Earth Grudge Fear into his tiajutsu, ninjutsu, and even genjutsu style, though he rarely used genjutsu as it wasn't his thing.

There was another great boost the Earth Grudge Fear had given him that he had not expected. While Kakuzu had been born with high levels of chakra the Earth Grudge Fear had greatly increased his chakra reserves. The threads acted like their own chakra network allowing him to produce chakra from them, and the hearts that he stole also produced their own chakra which Kakuzu was able to add to his own reserves causing Kakuzu to become a chakra power house.

Kakuzu had always wondered what would happen if he tried to take the heart of a bloodline user, like those of the storm release bloodline in Kumo. He wondered if he would be able to use their elemental bloodline, or if he would only be able to use the two elements that made up that bloodline. He had never really gotten around to figuring out with his obsession with money, and him having to master all five of the basic elements as well.

After meeting Naruto and joining up with the Akatsuki the idea had almost vanished from his thoughts, but still every now and again they popped back up which left Kakuzu curious. He was sure it would take him years to master even one elemental bloodline since he doubted a clan would want to teach him how to use the heart of one of their fallen comrades, especially after he ripped it from their chests, but he was sure with practice and time he would figure it out and have a whole new set of skills and jutsu to work with.

Kakuzu went to say something, but then his senses started to go haywire. He instantly went to his defensive mode and not a moment too soon as the entire house exploded sending a bright red fireball into the night sky blinding many around them.

**XXX**

"Did you get him" came a voice from the tree line as a man walked out into the moon light and of course the light of the fire that was burning from the earthen home that Kakuzu and Naruto had been staying in.

"Of course, there is no way someone would have been able to survive that" came another voice this time more feminine as a smaller figure jumped out of the tree lines and walked towards the first.

"That will teach them to try and steal our bounties" spoke the final man as he came from behind a boulder not far away. This one had a dopy look on his face and was much larger than the first two.

These three were the Tree Wandering Ninja. Their leader Ishidate, and his two friends/subordinates Karenbana and Kongo who were both smirking victoriously after what they believed was a successful surprise attack.

Ishidate is a tall man who had orange spiky hair, with a headband with no village symbol on it, and blue eyes. Ishidate wears a blue shirt with pants and a white vest over it and on his right hand is his petrification gauntlet that has an eye on the back of the hand.

Karenbana appeared to be a child, but was actually twenty-two years old. She wore a long shaggy white hair and she has light pink-colored eyes. She wore a grey headband on her head. She wore a long open white vest that goes down just below her knees and a pinkish-colored long sleeve shirt that turns into a skirt just above her vest. She also wore a short pair of black shorts and a black pair of gloves. She appeared to be wearing pink lipstick and eye liner.

Kongō was a large and muscular man, with a very wide frame and thick limbs. He had a very bulbous nose, relatively small and beady black-colored eyes, and thick lips. His long shaggy brown hair made him look somewhat like a rock star. He wore a white vest over a green shirt, a pair of black gloves and a grey-colored forehead protector with no village symbol on it. Overall, Kongō gave off the appearance of a brutish and violent man.

Kakuzu was anything but happy as he pushed a heavy stone slab off of his body and stood up to look at the three idiots he was about to kill. He eyed them all making sure they realized what was about to happen before he unlatched his arms and sent both of his hands at the idiots before him.

Ishidate saw the attack coming and quickly jumped back, but Kongo and Karenbana were caught and slowly dragged kicking and chocking towards Kakuzu as he slowly chocked the life out of them for attacking him so brazenly.

Behind Kakuzu the ground started to shift as Naruto pushed some earth off of him and tried to stand up, but the pain of the threads running through his legs was to intense causing him to fall back down on his knees as his labored breathing increased.

"You "Gasp" ass "Gasp" hole! You "Gasp" protected your "Gasp" self, but you left me to "Gasp" take the brunt of that damn "Gasp" jutsu" shouted Naruto as he tried to catch his breath, but the threads were piercing his lungs and his strength was failing him quickly due to the threads eating up his charka in rapid succession.

"I told you that you had been babied too much by the Fuma clan, this is the real world, so deal with it" spoke Kakuzu as he dragged the fat one and the girl towards him. When they got close enough that Kakuzu's arms went back to normal he lifted them both up and began to strangle them.

"Did I ever tell you "Gasp" that I find the fact that you kill half of the people via strangling with your bare hands disturbing" spoke Naruto as he whipped some sweat off his brown and placed both hands on the crumbled earth for support.

"Shut up" spoke Kakuzu as he went back to strangling the two idiots who were stupid enough to attack him.

Ishidate saw what was going on and instantly knew that the big guy was out of his league, and if he wanted to survive he would need his team, so he made a split second decision and made his move.

Naruto was surprised when he felt a presence behind him, but he was too weak to dodge and was quickly brought into a head lock. He looked back and saw another man who had a similar hair style to the two who Kakuzu was killing.

"Stop right there or the boy gets it" shouted Ishidate as he looked over at Kakuzu who looked back at him for a moment before going back to strangle his two teammates. "You bastard didn't you hear me? I said stop or the brat gets it" shouted Ishidate as he put his hand next to Naruto's face and his gauntlet activated with the eye opening up for Kakuzu to see.

When Kakuzu saw the eye on the gauntlet he realized it was a weapon made by the Takumi Village, which was known for their powerful and weird weapons, but still he didn't care. He quickly snapped the necks of the two idiots in his hands and turned around to look at the man who had Naruto in his grasp.

Ishidate was shocked when Kakuzu snapped his two comrade's necks, but he wouldn't act a fool. He needed to escape and that was what he was going to do. He refused to die in such an unsightly way.

"If you let me leave I can guarantee the boy's safety" spoke Ishidate knowing that he had the upper hand here, but was shocked by what happened next.

"Naruto you got caught, but I'm not the type to deal with these types of situations the mundane way" spoke Kakuzu as he started to go through hand signs.

'Please oh great deity don't let him do what I think he is about to do' thought Naruto hoping and praying that Kakuzu didn't do what he knew he was going to do, but he was sure he was going to do it anyways.

"Hey what are you doing, don't you care about the boy's life" spoke Ishidate getting more and more scared by the minute.

"**Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work**" shouted Kakuzu as he exhaled a powerful wave of fire that rushed across the earth burning everything in its path to ash right before it got to Naruto and Ishidate. The explosion was immense and Kakuzu was sure any normal human would have been reduced to ash.

As Kakuzu looked out into the burning ground a hand popped out of the ground that had burns on it and pulled Naruto out of the ground using the last of the boy's strength before he collapsed on the ground breathing heavily.

Kakuzu looked the boy over and saw that about half of his boy was pretty raw from the fire jutsu, but on the edges he could see that it was already healing so he wasn't really worried. He grinned when he looked down at Naruto's wrists seeing two black rings wrapped around each of them.

"You "Gasp" bastard" spoke Naruto through half lidded eyes. He was in so much pain and all he wanted to do was fall asleep, but then he heard Kakuzu start to speak so he forced himself to stay awake for another moment.

"Congrats brat you now have your own Earth Grudge Fear. Now you are the second person to ever wield it in the past one hundred years" spoke Kakuzu as he lifted Naruto's arm and showed him the two black bands around his wrists. He saw the boy smile and dropped his arm when the boy finally passed out.

'I am one step closer to reviving my clan and showing the world that you can't stop the Uzumaki no matter how many times you kill us ha… ha… ha..' thought Naruto right before he passed out.


	7. Chapter 7

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 7]**

**(Bane of the Seven)**

**XXX**

"Ah, if it isn't Akatsuki's most fair weathered member" spoke a snaky tone in the dark.

There was some mumbling as well as the casual shifting of eyes from the one who had spoken, to the one who was being spoken about and then back to the original speaker.

"It figures the one with the loudest mouth would make the most idiotic comment" spoke Kakuzu as he gazed over towards Deidara with a look of contempt. "Or should I have said the one with the most mouths?"

Kakuzu and Deidara had never been on good terms. It seemed that the Akatsuki had a personality divide within it. On one side there were the emotionless members, (Itachi, Pain, Konan, Sasori, Kakuzu, Hiruko, and black Zetsu) and on the other side there was the over the top members (Kisame, Deidara, Hidan, white Zetsu, and Tobi).

The emotionless members were usually quiet, only speaking when they were conveying useful information, or trying to learn something to help the group or themselves. The loud mothers were usually just idiots, though Kisame could be clever when he wanted to be. This led to more than one confrontation that Pain usually had to break up himself.

Kakuzu tended to lean towards the emotionless side of the spectrum, though he wasn't the same type as Itachi Uchiha. He felt emotions, usually anger or annoyance, but kept them to himself for the most part; unless it was anger then whoever had pissed him off was as good as dead. He actually didn't like people who seemed to be emotionless robots, like Itachi and Pain, because he felt that it was emotions that drew humans forward.

Kakuzu remembered all thought his life that it was his emotions that had drawn him forward, been there for him when he was in need, and empowered him when he felt weak. Yes, anger had always been with Kakuzu. He remembered it was his anger that had kept him from dying after fighting Hashirama Senju, it was his anger that allowed him to kill the elders and steal the Earth Grudge Fear, and it had been anger that had kept him from dying and had allowed the Earth Grudge Fear to adapt to his body without killing him.

Yes, Kakuzu was proud of himself, but just because he could see the use in emotions didn't mean that he felt they were all useful, or that the people using them were doing it correctly. Deidara was a perfect example of this. When Kakuzu felt anger, he struck with precision and deadly accuracy, when Deidara was angry he ran his mouth and made giant spectacles of himself. It was obvious that some people were better off with or without emotions when compared to others.

Deidara's eyes flashed in his anger, and the laughing of other members of their organization hadn't made things any better. Kisame and Hidan were being the loudest in their laughter, but that didn't mean the others were not snickering, besides Itachi, Pain, and Konan, who were all as emotionless as robots.

"You bastard, I will blow you up to kingdom come" shouted Deidara as she gazed towards Kakuzu. "You damn old man, just because you are old doesn't mean I will hold back!"

It wasn't a secret that Kakuzu was the oldest member of Akatsuki. He had mentioned, now he was regretting it though, that he had faced the First Hokage in combat and survived, a feat many could not say they had done.

"I would hope not, after all, a brat like you can't do much besides run his mouth" spoke Kakuzu in an uninterested tone of voice. "Now if you are done pop boy, we have real business to deal with."

"Damn, he got you Pop Boy" laughed Kisame as he pointed one of his blue fingers towards Deidara.

"Looks like someone is getting put in his place" spoke Hidan, who did not like Deidara either.

"Pop Boy? I will kill you, you old geezer" shouted Deidara. "Where are you right? TELL ME! I will fly there right now and turn you into my newest art piece!"

"Hmph, that is a fight I would like to see" spoke Hiruko with a grin. "The "Rag Doll" verses "Pop Boy", I bet it would cause quite a few kicks from the spectators."

"Deidara calm down" spoke Pain as his ringed eyes looked from the fiery blond to the stock masked man. "Kakuzu has returned to our organization that is all that matters at the moment."

"How can you let this bastard back into Akatsuki just like that? He just abandoned the organization when it was convenient for him, and now all of a sudden he is back" shouted Deidara with anger in his voice. "He could be a spy for another village, or even here to try and collect the bounty on one our heads!"

"That is not a bad idea, I am tired of hearing your voice after all, and the little money that is on your head wouldn't be too bad either" spoke Kakuzu in a passive tone. "My only fear is that people will start to revere me as a saint for ridding this world of your annoying presence."

"You bastard! I have a fifty five million ryo bounty on my head from Iwagakure" shouted Deidara, insulted that he was being called a low level bounty to the ancient bounty hunter.

"Enough Deidara, Kakuzu has his own dealings to attend to and was unable to remain in our group at the time" spoke Pain as he looked out towards Kakuzu. "Kakuzu is needed in the Akatsuki. His contacts as well as his knowledge in collecting bounties will be indispensable in the future."

It was true, not that some were happy about that. Kakuzu had many years in the bounty hunter business and had established himself as one of if not the best bounty hunter alive. With him in the organization, money would start pouring in much faster than it ever had before.

"I get that" shouted Deidara. "I just want to know why nobody suspects him of dealing under the table. I mean look at that face, does it look like the face of a person who wouldn't stab you in the back when it was convenient for him?"

"Unlike you pop boy, I have other things going on in my life that I cannot just drop, like you and your pour excuse for art" spoke Kakuzu earning some snickers from the other members of the Akatsuki. "You see, I have investments I have to take care of to make sure that they reach their full potential, so that they will be useful to me when they reach their peak."

Everyone looked at Kakuzu with looks of confusion, except for Pain, Konan, and Itachi; they were never surprised or shocked. Kakuzu just ignored the looks, and thought back to his apprentice who should have gained some modicum of control over his new powers.

He still found it weird that he have even considered wasting all of the time that he had on Naruto, and by extension money, to train and develop the boy's skill over the years. He had always been a solo bounty hunter, but he wasn't stupid, that was for sure.

Kakuzu realized the value of a partner, especially one who you could rely on and only have to pay them a small fraction of the money that they made. It was basically the motto of the Hidden Leaf Village, and they had been the greatest shinobi village since their founding. It was made even better since he wouldn't have to worry about accidently killing his partner, allowing him to use his jutsu to their fullest potential.

"Oh, and what kind of investments does the Rag Doll have" asked Kisame as he looked over towards Kakuzu with a sharky grin on his face. The grin revealed a long row of shark like teeth that were bone white which contrasted well with his dark blue skin.

"Kakuzu is training a possible future member for the Akatsuki organization" spoke Pain in his level voice. "He needed time and space in order to train the boy to his maximum potential."

This shocked everyone in the room. Never would they have ever suspected that someone like Kakuzu would be ever be willing, patient, or competent enough to teach anyone anything, without killing them in a moment of rage. To think that Kakuzu had been teaching someone, and hadn't killed them, was like a sucker punch to the gut for the other members.

Kisame started to laugh loudly. "Hahaha, who would have ever thought that someone like you could ever teach anyone anything" laughed Kisame. "I am surprised that he or she isn't dead!"

Kakuzu grumbled a bit at his capabilities being insulted. "He refuses to die" was all Kakuzu said, though this only made Kisame laugh harder.

"Ha, I knew it; you have tried to kill him!" The laughter was really starting to work Kakuzu's nerves, but it seemed that Pain saw this and decided to intervene.

"Enough" spoke Pain, causing everyone to quiet down until the room was completely mute. "We have other things to deal with other than Kakuzu's apprentice."

"Yea, why did you call us here" asked Hidan with a bored look on his face. "Do you want someone to go wipe out a village? If you do then count me in!"

"Bloody religious fool" spoke Deidara, but it seemed that Hidan heard him.

"You bastard! How dare you insult the sacred religion of Jashism" shouted Hidan. "Just for that, I will offer you soul to the Lord of Slaughter myself!"

"Bring it on freak show" shouted Deidara.

"You don't have any right to be calling anyone a freak show" shouted Hidan as his image reached for his scythe like he could actually attack Deidara's hologram form or something. "Isn't that right mouthy?"

"You're a dead man" shouted Deidara.

"Ha, like you could kill me" retorted Hidan. "The Lord Jashin protects me from you little pop art Pop Boy!"

"Enough!" The room fell deadly silent once again. "We are not here to bicker like children. It seems out old friend Orochimaru is up to his old plans again, so we are going to have to do something about it."

"Finally we are going to get that damned snake" spoke Hidan.

Everyone was thrilled at the thought of killing Orochimaru, none more than Sasori, though he hid it well. He had been the secularly most hated man in Akatsuki even after he left the organization. Many of the members had scores to settle with him, and everyone wanted a piece.

"No, not yet" spoke Pain. "He has been interfering with Suna, as well with their jinchuriki. This cannot be over looked, but the jinchuriki are our main concern, so that is what we will focus on."

Many looked disappointed, but didn't say anything.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Itachi.

"I have a plan" spoke Pain.

**XXX**

Walking down a soggy path was a young man with silver hair and purple eyes though these features were greatly hidden away by a black cloak and hood that he was wearing. He had taken it off some pore bastard who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time when the thunder storm started up.

He was on his own, as usual, walking down the soppy paths towards his next destination. He had been feeling rather daring as of late, and wanted to take on a job that was a bit more high risk then his last few jobs that he had been on. That is why he had decided to target someone of greater strength and renown.

As of late he had been hunting down and capturing or killing chunin grade rogue shinobi from various Hidden Villages. They had all been weak, but the boy had decided he needed experience, so working his way from the bottom to the top would be wiser than attacking someone who was to strong and getting into a situation he couldn't handle.

But now he was ready for a new challenge. He had heard from one of Kakuzu's sources that a great bounty was in the Land of Storms which just so happened to be close to where Naruto had been. He had instantly set off to look for his newest bounty, and to improve his skills with the Earth Grudge Fear.

'Hmph, that jerk just left me there to suffer on my own" thought Naruto with an annoyed tone in his own head.

Naruto hadn't been too pleased after he had been buried alive, burned, and then abandoned by Kakuzu right after Kakuzu gave him the Earth Grudge Fear, and while it was still integrating itself into his body, which was mind numbingly the most painful thing he had ever been forced to suffer through.

After a few days though he had been healed back to his former self, but then he was nearly starving, and his chakra was acting oddly with the black threads that now called his body home. It was needless to say that the symbiotic relationship that he now shared with the somewhat sentient black threads of the Earth Grudge Fear had taken some time to get used to.

Naruto stopped for a moment and looked up into the sky. Lighting danced across the sky creating beautiful spectacles of itself to Naruto, but all Naruto could do was wish it would stop raining. It was made worse by the ever so often effect of lighting hitting the ground and shooting electricity through the water that coated the ground, and into whatever that electricity could get to.

"Damn it, didn't I get enough damn rain in the Land of Rain" asked Naruto, really to himself as he was all alone, something that he had to once again get used to since he had not been able to see his friends at the Fuma clan since the day he left.

"My, what a mouth on one so young."

Naruto turned around to see a little old lady with white hair and dark beady eyes looking at him. She had an umbrella which she was using to keep the rain off of her, and was wearing a small outfit that led Naruto to believe she was some kind of cook.

"Hey look lady, I am sick of rain ok" spoke Naruto, not really seeing why he needed to justify himself to this old woman. "Don't you ever get tired of all this rain? Wouldn't you prefer something a bit less lethal with all these bolts of lightning flying through the air?"

To Naruto's surprise the old woman just smiled like she knew something that he didn't.

"Dear boy do you not understand that you cannot get something without first giving something? It is the law of nature after all, so yes while the lighting is dangerous, it is also beautiful. While the rain is a bit depressing, it is needed to water the plants. While in combination the lighting and rain are both deadly, they are also highly needed for life to continue" spoke the old woman with a smile as she began to walk down the path in a slow, steady pace. "After all, without life there is no death, and if there was no death, then there could be no new life."

Naruto was both intrigued and surprised by this old woman and subconsciously started to follow her. Naruto could count the number of people who he had met on both of his hands that had any real form of brain power in their heads such as Kakuzu, the Third Hokage, Mei, Sasame, Kotohime, Kagero, and a few others, but out of all of them, only Kakuzu, The Third Hokage, and Mei seemed to possess the wisdom that this woman seemed to possess, and it fascinated Naruto.

'Figures, the only people I can stand are fossils' thought Naruto dryly as he continued to follow the old woman in the darkness and thunder storm.

"That may be true, but couldn't things be different for once" asked Naruto, trying to understand something that he still did not know what was. "Why couldn't the world just for once just give and not ask for something in return?"

Once again Naruto was surprised when the old woman began to chuckle to herself. Naruto found it a bit insulting and for a moment the homicidal urge to kill that his sensei seemed to be plagued with stirred within Naruto, but he squashed it feeling far too interested in the old woman to kill her.

"Well isn't that just like the pot calling the kettle black" spoke the woman with a good natured smile on her face.

"What is that supposed to mean" asked Naruto as he narrowed he eyes at the woman's back.

"Oh don't give me that look, you don't even know what I meant by that" spoke the old woman as she gave him a dismissive wave of her hand. "All I am really saying is it is easy to ask for something, but doing it is much different."

Naruto raised an eye brow at that, but decided to ask a question, that he knew he wouldn't like the answer to. "What are you trying to say" asked Naruto.

"Well, when was the last time you did something for someone else without asking for anything in return, or without getting some other form of compensation?" The old woman didn't look at him, whom Naruto was grateful for, but still it didn't lessen the pain he felt.

Naruto didn't like having his words thrown back at him like that. He felt like one of those spoiled children who cry in stores until their weak willed parents broke down and just gave them whatever they wanted, not caring that their children were developing bad habits, just so long as they could have a moment's peace.

He felt so stupid for complaining about the stormy weather, and of course about life in general. Kakuzu had always told him that this was the world that they lived in, so he should stop all of his bitching and do something productive with his life. Naruto felt like he hadn't grown at all since those days and that he was still a brat.

It was not a pleasant thought thinking about all he had been though to get where he was, only for it to have been made meaningless by his negativity. Why did it matter if life wanted a fair deal? More importantly why was he complaining that life was actually fare? It could be so much worse, but still he complained. It was starting to really anger Naruto.

"Well?"

Naruto looked at the old woman for a moment, before he realized she was still waiting on his answer. He bit his lip a bit trying to think of anything that would keep him from losing face, but in the end he couldn't think up squat.

"The thunder storms are beautiful" spoke Naruto, giving a vague response, though he knew that he had still lost no matter how he worded it.

The old woman hadn't called him out on it, thankfully, and just looked up at the dancing lightning running across the sky. "Yes, it really is" spoke the old woman before she looked over at Naruto. "So where are you headed young man? Can't imagine you are lost, the look in your eyes tells me that much, so you must have some business around these parts."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders a bit as a grin formed on his face. "Why couldn't I be a traveler? I could simply be walking around doing this and that, yet you seem to believe the contrary" spoke Naruto, finding the old woman more and more interesting.

"Oh young man you will have to do better than that" quipped the old woman with a smile. "I have been around for quite some time, and have seen thousands of travelers come and go, but none of them have ever held the imposing presence that you exclude, yet you do it without doing or saying anything."

"Well if you must know I have some business in the next town over" spoke Naruto as he gazed out towards a mountain in the distance. He didn't see it, but the old woman looked at him, and saw where he was looking out towards. "Anyways I need to get there as soon as possible, so that I can collect my paycheck."

"Oh deary, the next city over is quite dangerous, especially at night" spoke the old woman as she placed her hand to her lips. "If you need to go there then why don't you stay with me and my son in our little diner slash inn? It will keep you dry, put some food in your belly, and you will be all energized to make your journey tomorrow!"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. "Yea a hot meal sounds like something I could go for right about now. I haven't had any home cooked for a while now" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face.

"Great, you can stay with me and my son until tomorrow, and then you can make your way to the next city over" spoke the old woman with a joy filled voice. "This way you can taste my world famous curry, the recipe though I cannot give you, it is a secret after all."

"Who are you anyways" asked Naruto, realizing he had never asked the old woman her name before he accepted to stay the night at her inn.

"Oh, I nearly forgot got to tell you" laughed the old woman.

'You did forget you old crow' thought Naruto as the vein in his temple began to throb.

"My name is Sanshō, a pleasure to meet you Mr….." she trailed off hoping that Naruto would tell her his name.

Naruto being as prideful in his name as he was didn't even give her a fame name. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, a pleasure to be staying with you" spoke Naruto with a grin.

"Nice to meet you" spoke the old woman in a kind tone. Naruto was a bit disappointed that she had not responded to his name, but once again he figured it was a good thing, didn't need anyone hunting for him at the moment, he wasn't as strong as he needed to be.

**XXX**

The old lady's shop was actually a curry shop. Apparently she made some famous curry around the area known as the 'Curry of Life' though why it was named that, or what it needed to be made was a mystery to Naruto.

To Naruto's surprise the old woman, who looked old enough to be a grandmother, had a son about Naruto's age. It had been a shocker to the system for sure, but like a pro Naruto hadn't let the shock become evident on his face.

Karashi was a weird boy in Naruto's opinion. He looked strong and capable, but it was obvious he was a coward. It became apparent to Naruto when he walked in and he looked directly into the boy's eyes. The fact that the boy shied away and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, but where he was, spoke volumes about the coward in which he was.

Naruto didn't really care about that though. He would only be in the shop until morning, so it didn't matter to Naruto that Karashi was a coward. It was kind of funny though watching him falling over himself trying to serve him as his mother cooked curry in the back room.

The curry was not what Naruto had been expecting. It was hot as Hell on earth. One bite and Naruto thought that his tongue was going to melt off, and that he would start breathing fire any moment.

At first Naruto had actually thought it was an assassination attempt on his life, but he noticed the smile on the old woman's face and could see she was actually expecting him to tell her that he loved the food. It took a lot of restraint on Naruto's part, but he was able to crack a smile and nod his head in appreciation.

Needless to say Naruto got rid of the rest of the curry when no one was looking in order to not have to eat it himself. He wondered if he should take some with him, it could be useful against enemies, but ultimately decided against it.

His room was nice. It wasn't anything special, but in all honesty Naruto had not grown up with the finer things in life, so the room was actually very nice by his standards.

The room was a dark shade of blue with two windows with brown shudders on it. On the floor was a mat that he would sleep on it, and some pictures of plants were hung up on the wall. The floor actually had carpet, something that was rare in the elemental nations, but left Naruto thankful for since he didn't have a bed.

After a long days track across the country Naruto was happy about finally catching some Z's. He put his ninja supplies beside him before pulling the covers over his face. He closed his eyes, and drifted of to dream land.

**XXX**

In the night a lone figure could be seen leaving the Curry of Life shop and running down the dirt path silently as he possibly could. After running for a while he eventually came upon a small town down the road that had some housing scattered all around and a gold mind not too far off into the distance.

He ran through the village and into what was known as the 'Boss's House' before kneeling before the leader of the 'Family'.

The leader of the family was none other than Raiga Kurosuki, a missing nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist, and an ex member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. To his side was his trusted Kiba Blades, which was a set of short blades with the power over lighting that were part of the set that made up the blades of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and on his other side was a small boy with purple colored hair.

Riaga was an intimidating man, who's fighting style, personality, and reputation was enough to put the shakes into almost anyone's boots. If that didn't scare someone then his imposing, and slightly deranged looks were almost assuredly capable of finishing off the job.

Raiga had blue eyes with a darker ripple around the pupil, waist-length green hair with the top two bangs falling down on his cheeks on each side, and having dark fleshy lips. Raiga wore a dark-brown sleeveless vest falling to his knees where the inside was purple, a light brown belt, a light grey pants and, like all the Swordsmen of the Mist, he had bandages covering most of his body, his neck down to his chest, including his arms and his tibias.

On Raiga's right hand side was a small boy by the name of Ranmaru, who though frail, had unique powers that captivated the ex-mist ninja, and had earned him a place at Riaga's side permanently.

Ranmaru is a young boy with chin length purple hair which is parted in the middle. He wore a light-purple shirt with black stripes on each side, a sash around his waist, a pair of dark-colored pants and sandals. He also has a slightly feminine appearance.

Together they formed the head of the Kurosuki Family, which ran the area. They were the most powerful people in the area, and there word was as good as law to all of the people around them.

"What are you doing here" asked Raiga as he looked down at Karashi who was bowing so low his nose was literally touching the floor. "Shouldn't you be at home sleeping or making curry with you mother?"

There was some chuckling around the room which caused Karashi to bite his lip knowing that there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. He wanted these peoples respect, and more than anything he wanted power. So he needed to bide his time, and hope they would teach him what he wanted to learn.

"I was just coming here to tell you Lord Raiga that a young man has taken up residence in my family's curry shop and claims that he is on his way here" spoke Karashi, pleased to see, or rather hear, the murmuring of surprise around the room. "I am not sure of his intentions, but he keeps saying that his next paycheck is supposed to come from here."

"He is not lying" spoke Ranmaru as he gazed down at Karashi with his odd glowing red eyes. "There must be someone at your house that has really captured your attentions, if he deemed it worthy to come all this way to tell us."

Nobody said anything for they knew that Ranmaru was the only person who could argue with Raiga and not get punished for it. That could also be said for vice versa as anyone who challenged what Ranmaru said was basically challenging Raiga himself, which would only end up one way. That person being buried alive.

"What did this boy look like" asked Ranmaru comply ignoring the murmuring going on around the room. He was used to it by now, so all he really needed to do was act like he didn't hear them. It would be better that way.

"He looked really strong with silver colored hair, purple colored eyes, and he had an aura that felt like it was chocking me when our eyes met" spoke Karashi with a shiver going down his spine. "I don't know this for sure, but the look told me that he had killed before, and he was willing to do it again."

"Hmmm, a boy vicious and strong enough to cause such an effect is rare, though Zabuza could do it when he was just a runt as well" spoke Riaga with distaste in his voice when he mentioned his former teammate. "In any case, we will deal with him when he arrives tomorrow, so until then you can just go home."

"Yes Lord Raiga" spoke Karashi as he stood up and hauled ass leaving Raiga and Ranmaru to talk.

"What do you intend to do about this intruder" asked Ranmaru.

"What do you think" asked Raiga. "I am going to give him a funeral worth remembering."


	8. Chapter 8

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 8]**

**(Hunting the Big Fish)**

**XXX**

Naruto was walking down the dirt path looking out towards the incoming mountain that housed the gold mines he had heard about for the past few days. The sun had just come up, and the wind swept through the area causing a slight chill to creep over the body.

Naruto had woken up early and had left before anyone in the Curry of Life Shop had awakened. He made sure to leave an adequate amount of money on the table before leaving, as he didn't want to take these people's hospitality for granite.

He was sure that they would be surprised that he was gone, but he didn't need them to be asking him a whole bunch of questions that he did not feel like answering. The boy Karashi had been especially nosey, but Naruto was sure there was a reason for that.

The boy was a coward that Naruto knew without a doubt. With one sharp look Naruto was sure that he could make the boy pee on himself, so why the boy kept asking him what he wanted in the town over had gotten his suspicious. He looked like he was struggling to keep a straight face, but there must have been something that kept him from folding under the pressure and keep on his nosey assault.

Naruto put the boy in the back of his mind as he started to come up to the town that he had been looking for nearly twenty four seven which was nearly an entire week ago. It was kind of depressing with all of the run down shacks and dirty people who were just waking up.

Off into the distance Naruto could see a large group of people who looked much more dangerous than the dirty people running around forming a group and looking off towards his direction. Naruto wasn't surprised he was able to make out the image of Karashi in the crowd; it would have explained why the boy was so nosey after all.

**XXX**

On the other side of the town was a large group of men who were wearing metal claws on their hands and ninja were on their bodies as they gazed off towards Naruto who was walking down the hill towards the village.

They had been somewhat surprised when Karashi had arrived in the town so early in the morning telling them about a possible threat, which their leader had already told them about, but still they felt that a child wasn't exactly something that they should be worried about.

Karashi was a coward; they knew that all too well. They had just assumed he was freaking out about something that wasn't even worth mentioning, but the boss and his _Eyes_ has said to keep a sharp eye on him, so that was what they were going to do.

Honestly they thought that Riaga was going insane if he found some small child a threat. True Ranmaru could do things with his eyes that would have them confused as to which way was up, and which way was down, but that was a freak accident. Ranmaru was special, this boy was not, so they felt worrying about it would be pointless.

"Well it looks like the dangerous kid has finally entered town" spoke one of the ninja in a sarcastic tone of voice as he rubbed the top of Karashi's head in a demeaning type of way. "We had better watch out, otherwise he may kill us all."

By now everyone was laughing and Karashi's face was as red as a tomato though he bit his tongue knowing that it would only get him into trouble he couldn't handle if he started to mouth of to these trained killers.

"Yea I think we should all watch out, I mean he looks like some sort of super ninja" spoke another man who was holding his side in pain as he laughed his ass off. "I mean just look at him 'Hahahaha'. He could be a Kage with a face like that!"

"Yes I can see it now" laughed another one of the men as he tried to keep himself from falling down from laughing so hard. "He could be the infamous Mizukage. He must be here looking for Lord Raiga and Ranmaru to finish them off."

The men continued to laugh. It was actually a fairly decent joke given that the Mizukage was a small man who appeared to be a child, and Riaga was a rogue member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, which would be possible for someone strong from the mist to come and take him out.

Then there was Ranmaru who seemed to have a bloodline, something that the people of Mist seemed to hate, and it would be more than enough for the Mizukage to kill him. That being said, it was still a joke as they all knew what the Mizukage looked like, and this brat wasn't it.

"Hahaha no I got an even better one" spoke another man as he gripped his gut, watching out for the claws of course, before saying "He could be the Hokage! I mean just look at him! It would be something that those tree huggers would do to make him feel better about his self!"

The laughs and jokes continued like this for a good thirty minutes before it started to die down and the leaders of the group began to bring order to their group.

"Alright jokes aside Lord Riaga sent us to take the brat out, and that is what we are going to do" spoke one of the men as he jumped up and onto one of the rickety houses and ran towards Naruto.

"Ha, lets shred him into pieces" shouted another man as he followed his group's leader.

"Yea" shouted the rest of the men as the all began to race after their leader to go take Naruto out.

The only one who was left was Karashi who didn't know how to walk on wall, or how to use chakra to increase his physical capabilities, so he just ran down the streets hoping to at least appear as if he were brave.

**XXX**

As Naruto walked down the streets he noticed that the people seemed to shy away from him. He wondered if they could see why he was hated back in Konoha, but soon he noticed that they were scared of him, not that they hated him with an undying passion.

Naruto wondered what he had done to gain such a strange reaction from the people of the town. The Lady from the Curry of Life Shop hadn't seemed to mind his presence, although her son seemed to be scared out of his mind, so why was it that, these people were acting this way?

At first he assumed that they saw him as some kind of invader, but then he saw how their eyes avoided his own, and they didn't freak out and try to run away. He had assumed they would ignore him, as he was still a child, but it seemed his hopes had been for not as he was too strange not to gawk at it appeared.

Just when he was getting to the center of town ten ninja appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him. Naruto wasn't surprised really, nor was he scared of their sudden appearance, but he did wonder why there was so many ninja in this one area.

"And who might you all be" asked Naruto in a slow draw that hinted at how unamused he was boy their appearance. "I doubt you are the welcoming committee."

"Oh, it seems we have ourselves a regular smart ass, boys" spoke one of the men as he held up his claw hand in a feeble attempt to frighten Naruto. "Maybe we should teach him so manners."

"I would rather be a regular smart ass then an extraordinary dumb ass" spoke Naruto in a sarcastic tone that had some of them start to glare at him. Naruto then put a finger to his chin and put on a fake thinking pose. "If I am a smart ass, then that has to make all of you dumbasses huh?"

The ninja seemed to get angrier and angrier by the second, but one of them stuck his hand out to prevent them from attacking Naruto. Naruto was surprised, as were the other men, but this guy seemed to have at least some brains in his head.

"Why are you even here boy" demanded the man with anger in his eyes. "I don't think any of these people are allowed visitors from eh outside, and you are definitely not one of our leader's business partners, so spit it out. Why are you here?"

"What, I can't take a stroll through you're…" Naruto paused as he looked around at the nasty little town that he was currently in. "pleasant little hamlet" was all Naruto could get out without chocking on his own lies.

"For someone who is teetering on the brink of death you sure are a smart ass" spoke the man as he took a few steps towards Naruto. "If I were you, I would get to talking or I would get used to not having a head on my shoulders."

"That is an interesting idea" spoke Naruto, causing all of the men to look at him like he was crazy. "But it sounds painful and kind of boring so I will pass." Naruto then looked at all of them for a moment before asking "Who are you people anyways?"

"We are members of the Kurosuki Family who run this town" spoke the man with a great deal of pride in his voice. "We control the gold mine, and we control these people, so if you don't want to end up working like them then I suggest you tell us why you are here."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders once again showing his disrespect to these idiots before him. The gesture did not go unnoticed by some and it got them looking like they were ready to kill. One of them even had to be held back by one of the other members of their little family.

"I am here looking for a particular man who was last seen heading out this way. He has a nice sized bounty on his head, and I want to collect on it" spoke Naruto with a bored tone in his voice. "I came to this little town to see if he was here, but so far all I have found are low levels, like all of you."

The leader either didn't catch the insult at the end, or just didn't care, because he asked a question almost as soon as Naruto was done talking. He seemed surprised by the new bit of information that he was getting from the boy, but wasn't sure if he was being honest or not.

"So you are a bounty hunter then" asked the leader as he looked down at Naruto with disbelief. "I doubt that, you are to you, and I doubt your skills are anywhere above genin."

"Well even if that were true genin level strength is all that I would need to defeat weaklings like you" spoke Naruto as he brushed off the insult, for the most part. "But yes I am a bounty hunter, an assassin, and sometimes if the price is right a body guard, though I only do that when the job is short."

The leaders was a bit confused as he still had a hard time accepting that this boy was all the things that he claimed himself to be. He couldn't have been any older than eleven of twelve, so how would he be strong enough to assassinate other ninja, let alone defeat ninja who actually have bounties on their heads.

"Hmph, whatever, I doubt you have ever killed someone in your life" spoke one of the other members of the group as he took a step forward to look down on Naruto. "I on the other hand have taken quite a few myself."

Naruto roled his eyes at the man not really caring much as to what he had to say.

"Yes I am sure you are a great ninja, after all killing civilians is sooooo difficult" spoke Naruto in a sarcastic tone as he gazed up at the ninja who looked extremely pissed off. "Yes I am sure you are a ninja like none before you. Oh how I am sure the great nations are quivering in their boots just thinking about the horrors you could bring upon the farmers of their nations."

"You are dead" shouted the man as he tried to slash Naruto across the face with his class, but he was shocked when the boy pulled out a tanto from behind his back and actually cut through the claws on his hand.

Everyone was shocked by this, and watched in fascination as what looked like light green chakra surrounded the strange blade that the weird boy had pulled off of his back. They were amazed he had been able to cut through the claws as they were made from a good strong metal.

"You are weak, now I am looking for a man, and if you haven't seen him, you are as good as dead" spoke Naruto as he jumped up in the air and did a spin kick to the man's face. The power behind the kick sent the man tumbling backwards and only stopped when his friends caught him.

The leader of the group eyed Naruto wearily now that he saw the boy wasn't all talk like he had first assumed him to be. He couldn't imagine the boy being some super ninja, but he did have to concede that the boy was very talented to be able to do that so young.

"Who are you looking for" asked the leader of the group as he looked over at Naruto with a curious look. "If he is one of my men then you can forget it, but if the bounty is high enough, then I am sure we can come to an agreement."

Naruto looked at the man like he had grown five extra heads. Naruto, like Kakuzu, did not share his bounty with anyone, except Kakuzu as he had been the one who gave Naruto the chance to become the ninja he was today. There was no way he was going to share his bounty with these idiots, but that didn't mean he couldn't let them think he would.

"Alright" spoke Naruto as he watched the greedy grins spread across some of the other men's faces. "I am looking for an ex-member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He goes by the name of Raiga, and he wields the Kiba Blades."

The area got so quite you could hear the Hokage scribbling on his paper work all the way in the Land of Fire. Naruto looked around a bit slightly confused by the sudden quietness, but was a bit shocked when they all burst out laughing and pointing at him.

"Oh, did you hear that? He actually things he can take on the boss" shouted one of them as he grabbed his sides.

"This kid is a dead man" shouted another one.

"This kid wouldn't last a second against Raiga-sama" laughed another one.

To the surprise of many Naruto actually smiled. They though that the boy was way too cocky, or maybe just messed up in the head, but it didn't matter to them. All they cared about was watching this brat die. They knew that they could watch Raiga do it, but there wouldn't be any fun in it for them.

Naruto's grin was two parts. He was happy that he had finally found where his target was after searching for such a long time, and he was also very happy with the idea that he could finally get this conversation done with. It was made even better because these guys worked for Raiga, so sending him their heads would be a great way to get the man all amped up.

"Let's finish this brat off. I am tired of looking at those damned purple eyes of his" shouted one of the members as he ran towards Naruto intent on killing him. "It is first serve first kill!"

Naruto pulled out some kunai and waited for a few of them to get close enough before throwing them at them. He was pleased when he saw the first three try to swat the kunai away, but were unfortunate to be unsuccessful due to the wind chakra that was being coerced through them. Needless to say the kunai cut right into them, and then cut right out leaving all three of them dead.

That being said this one worked for the first three. The others, after seeing what happened to their brethren, realized that dodging was a much better idea then blocking, and had taken to dodging all of Naruto's kunai from then on.

"I got him" shouted one of the members that had been able to sneak up behind Naruto. He went to shred Naruto into pieces with his claws, but to his shock black threads shot out of the boy's clothing and grabbed hold of him. "What the hell is going on?"

"That is none of your concern" shouted Naruto as he spun around and cut the man's head off. The cut was clean so there was no blood splatter that landed on him, but he did have to jump back a bit to avoid any of it getting on him when the body hit the ground, causing the blood to be forced out of his exposed neck region.

"**Black Claw**" shouted one of the men as he raced towards Naruto. His right claw began to glow a faint blue color as chakra was pumped into it, and when he swung them it arched out as a three bladed charka slashing technique.

"**Wind Style: Crescent Moon Arc**" shouted Naruto as he slashed his own tanto creating a light green arc of charka that rushed out of his tanto and towards the enemy ninja's attack.

When the two techniques clashed they battled for dominance for a moment, but the outcome was a given. Naruto's attack, while only one slash, was made up of elemental chakra that was honed and used to mastery by a ninja who knew what he was doing. The other attack was rough and appeared to be poorly done as he obviously had very little ninja training.

Naruto's attack cut through the enemy ninja's attack and rushed right towards the man. The man was so shocked that even if he were able to try and move he still wouldn't have been able to dodge the high speed wind jutsu. The wind blade cut the man right in half causing one half to fall forward and the other half to fall backwards.

"Damn it he has already killed five of us" shouted one of the other ninja of the Kurosuki Family. He was angry beyond belief that not only were his friends being killed left and right in front of him, but it was also being done by a small child. He felt both pathetic and weak all at once, and that was a terrible sensation to feel in bulk.

"We are going to have to use _that _jutsu" shouted another one of them.

"Alright, let's use _that _jutsu" spoke the man as he and the other four members of the Kurosuki Family jumped back and started to run through a few hand signs.

Naruto had assumed they were going to try and use some kind of elemental combination jutsu, as that was what Kakuzu loved to do, but was disappointed, and a bit confused, when they all started to jump on each other's shoulders.

Naruto thought that they had either gone insane, or they were just idiots. He had never heard of a jutsu that was anything like this, and if they had to do all of this to get their jutsu to work then it probably wasn't worth the wait.

**XXX**

Not too far off into the distance was none other than Raiga and Ranmaru, who was on Raiga's back. They had been watching the confrontation between their men and the new comer and they were both surprised by the amount of skill the boy was showing.

"My, my, my, he really is giving them a run for their money" spoke Raiga as he looked down towards the battlefield with uncaring eyes. He didn't really care if his men died; all he cared about was Ranmaru and himself.

"Yes, that boy is much stronger then he let on, and is even able to stream wind nature chakra through his tanto like you do lightning nature chakra through the Kiba Blades" spoke Ranmaru from Raiga's shoulder as he looked down on the battle with his glowing red eyes.

"Yes, and it seems that the blade he is using had quite a bit of fame to it as does my Kiba Blades" spoke Raiga as he eyed the tanto that Naruto was using. "If I am not incorrect, then I believe that tanto is known as the White Light Chakra Sabre which gave the White Fang of Konoha his name."

"Yes, the blade is made out of the finest chakra metal I have ever seen" spoke Ranmaru as he continued to gaze off towards Naruto as he battled the Kurosuki Family. "It accepts the chakra with ease, and increases its power exponentially, even compared to other blades that are made from chakra metals."

"Yes, but I heard that the blade had been lost during the Third Shinobi World War" spoke Raiga with a curious voice. "I wonder where he got it."

"I don't know, but I can tell you this, that boy has a very weird body" spoke Ranmaru as he continued to look into Naruto's body and see all of the weird things going on inside of it.

Raiga was confused as he couldn't see what was so interesting or weird about the boy's body. Sure he could understand if the boy's chakra was weird, it would indicate a bloodline of some kind, and the boy's hair wasn't white, so he was positive the boy didn't have the Kaguya clan's kekkei genkai.

"He has thousands of what look like threads moving about inside of his body. I can't say for sure, but it seems that they react with his chakra and even improve upon it. It is possible that it is some kind of technique to improve one's charka, but I have never heard of it" spoke Ranmaru with a hint of worry in his voice. "On top of that, his chakra is dark, not evil, but still it is pretty dark."

"Hm, we will need to watch out for him then" spoke Raiga as he thought about what Ranmaru had said. He had never head of a jutsu like that in his life, so he suspected that it was relatively new, or it had been hidden away from most of the ninja world. He didn't think the boy would be strong enough to defeat him, but he would have to be careful after all.

"Yes, but that isn't the only thing off about him" spoke Ranmaru who was still examining Naruto's body. "The life force of his body seems to have been altered as well. It is like it now clings to every cell, organ, and even his chakra in a way I can't even explain. I don't know what it means, but I am sure it isn't good."

"Well if he is a pain to kill, then we will just give him a burial to honor his great memory" laughed Raiga in a way that presented him as crazy. Even Ranmaru shook his head slightly knowing that Raiga had lost it a long time ago, he was just unwilling to let the only person who ever accepted him go as he didn't want to be alone.

"Yes, I guess we will" spoke Ranmaru in a soft low tone.

**XXX**

Karashi had finally caught up to the battle, but it had not been going the way that he had expected it to. Off to the side there were various members of the Kurosuki Family dead, which really surprised him. One of them looked like he had been cut in half, while other members look like they have been really sliced up.

To Karashi's surprise, the scary boy who had stayed with him was still fine; in fact he didn't even have a single scratch on him. Karashi was getting more and more worried, and thought about running away, but when he saw the last five members of the Kurosuki Family preparing for their signature technique he decided to stick around.

He got really scared though when the Naruto turned around and eyed him before looking back at the Kurosuki Family members as they prepared for their next attack. That look told Karashi that he was in a lot of trouble, and that running away would not help him in the least, not that Karashi still didn't think about doing it.

If Karashi wasn't so sure that the next move the Kurosuki Family was about to use on the weird guy would work, he would have begun running away immediately. It wasn't that he attacked Naruto, but something was telling him that Naruto knew about the part that he had played in all of this.

Karashi thought about his mother back in the Curry of Life Shop and wondered if it would have been smarter of him to of just stayed there and avoid such dangers. He knew he wasn't strong, but he had hoped he would be able to gain the strength of the Kurosuki Family if he had stayed there long enough. Now he was starting to regret that idea though.

'How is he so strong? He is no older than I am, but he is killing the members of the Kurosuki Family like it was a joke to him. Am I really that weak, or is it he is just that strong?'These were the thoughts that were going through Karashi's head as he continued to watch the fight from the side lines.

**XXX**

The members of the Kurosuki Family were now in position so the extended their claws to the maximum length that they would go before grinning like mad men. The man on the bottom decided to boast a bit before the attack though.

"Don't be scared, it will be over soon enough for you" spoke the man with a grin on his face.

"Could we hurry this along? I still have to find Riaga and kill him and you guys are wasting my sun light" spoke Naruto in a bored tone of voice.

In all honesty Naruto was actually interested to see what would happen next. Combination jutsu were actually supposed to be a difficult thing to do, and were said to be some of the strongest jutsu because of the mixing of other jutsu. If these guys could pull it off, then maybe there were not as weak as they seemed.

"Grr, you asked for it. **Kurosuki Family Style: Black Tornado**" shouted the man as he began to spin on the ground.

Soon all of the gang members were spinning, and to Naruto's surprise the spinning got quite intense. Eventually it became so fast that they did look like a black tornado with five rows of shiny silver extrusions poking out of it.

'Hmm, so they were not all talk and no bite' thought Naruto as he watched the black tornado rush off towards him.

He quickly dodged the black tornado and watched as hit cut through a relatively large stone that had been behind Naruto. Naruto whistled a bit giving the gang credit for being able to use a five man combination jutsu, but saw the weakness in the jutsu pretty quickly.

'While that tornado technique is pretty powerful, it can only cause damage in the five places where the claws were while the rest acts as a shield to the members of the family. I need to figure out how strong the shield is to figure out if I should attack it, or attack from above' thought Naruto as he got into his tiajutsu position.

He quickly rushed at the black on coming tornado and delivered a powerful kick in between two of the spinning blades. He was pleased to feel the black mass give way easily under his kick, and realized that the technique wasn't as strong as he had first assumed it would be.

Unfortunately though the black tornado didn't stay still as Naruto thought about this and quickly rammed into him. Naruto could feel a few cuts land on his body, but other than that he was fine. He was sent flying through the air though, but easily corrected himself and landed on both of his feet.

"That is an interesting jutsu, but it isn't nearly as strong as I had thought it was" spoke Naruto and he ran at a high rate of speed towards the oncoming black tornado. "Which means with enough force that jutsu will crumble like dirt!"

Right before the black tornado was upon him Naruto slammed one foot into the ground to steady his self then did a hard spin kick that used centrifugal motion to increase his power. Once his foot made contact with the black tornado it blasted the jutsu apart and sent all five of the remaining members of the Kurosuki Family flying into the air.

"And here is my final" shouted Naruto with a grin on his face as he went through various hand signs. "**Wind Style: Multi Wind Bullet Jutsu**" shouted Naruto as he unleashed five powerful blasts of wind that turned the falling Kurosuki Family into nothing more than tiny pieces the size of marbles.

**XXX**

Karashi was so scared that he tried to stand up to run away, but his shaking legs wouldn't let him. When he finally was able to get some control over his body he went to run again, but someone grabbed him by the scuff of his shirt. When he looked behind him he nearly peed himself when he saw that it was Naruto.

"We are going to need to talk" spoke Naruto with a gleam in his eyes.

**XXX**

"Quite impressive" spoke Riaga as he looked down at Naruto dragging the brat Karashi off even though the boy was kicking and screaming like a pathetic small child.

"Yes, he seems to be much stronger than we had first expected" spoke Ranmaru as he watched from a distance with some sadness in his eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 9]**

**(When Thunder Strikes)**

**XXX**

Naruto was sitting across from Karashi who was scared out of his wits. He had been this way ever since Naruto had basically dragged him back to his mother's shop and plopped him down onto the ground where Naruto sat in front of him.

Karashi's mother had already left to go get some ingredients for the shop before Naruto and Karashi had arrived, so Naruto didn't have to explain to her why he was man handling her son. It would have been interesting to say the least. Him explaining why he was man handling her son, her son explaining to her, or rather lying to her, about his reasons for joining Raiga's gang, and her trying to make sense of it all.

Fortunately for Karashi, his mother was blissfully unaware that her good little boy was acting like an idiot in the next town over. Naruto suspected the woman would have beaten him senseless if she knew that he was supporting a gang who was oppressing other people, but he wasn't sure.

Karashi was fidgeting more and more the more Naruto stared at him. He didn't know it, but Naruto's pupil had turned into a slit, which was only adding to his scary face. Karashi looked like he was going to pee himself any moment, but that was what Naruto was going for.

"What do you want" Karashi finally burst out not able to take Naruto's death glare any longer. His nerves felt like they were jumping all around his body, and his breath was coming in small shallow bursts.

"I want to know why you gave those idiots information on me, and why you are a part of their little gang, or what is left of it, if there is anything left of it" spoke Naruto as he gazed over at Karashi with a look that said if you lie to me you will get it as well.

"I wanted to be strong alright" spoke Karashi, believing that he was defending himself. "I am tired of being a civilian. I want to be strong like Riaga so that I can do anything I want!"

He was expecting a hard punch to the side of the head that sent him spiraling through the room and into a wall that didn't give way. With a loud thump sound he slid off the wall and was barely able to lift his head up to look at Naruto who was gazing at him with contempt.

"You have a great life, and you were willing to throw that all away simply because it wasn't as exciting as you wanted it to be" spoke Naruto with both surprise and contempt in his voice. "Do you have any idea how lucky you are that not only, but your mother as well, was not put into that town to help in the mines?"

Karashi lowered his head knowing that it was true the members of the Kurosuki Family could have easily put him and his mother in the mines without much problems. He hadn't really thought about it much, but now he was surprised at how much he had gotten away with.

"It is lucky for you that they found your cowardice so amusing that they didn't put you and your mother in that mine" spoke Naruto as he noticed the surprised look on Karashi's face. "Don't look at me like that. You think I can't tell the way that they treated you with just once glance? Trust me; they only kept you around to be their little jester, nothing more."

"That isn't true" shouted Karashi as he stood up, or well tried to stand up. His legs were still all wobbly and he was very light headed. "They said that they would make me one of them. They told me that they would teach me how to be a ninja, so that I could one day become a somebody!"

"Yes and the sky is brown, the leaves are purple, and the ocean is dry. Just because someone says something doesn't make is true" spoke Naruto as he stood up and walked over towards Karashi. "They told you that crap because they thought it was funny to watch you break your neck for them. They said all of that because they got a kick out of watching you fail."

Karashi didn't want to believe it. For years he had done everything he could for them and they had always told him that they would make him one of them. They promised to teach him how to use ninjutsu, how to fight like the normal human limitations didn't apply to him, so he had worked as hard as he could every day.

"Lucky for you that you were not one of them I guess" spoke Naruto as he looked down at Karashi. "If you had been, I would have killed you just like I killed all of the others. You should count yourself lucky that they never taught you to utilize chakra."

"Grr, why didn't you kill me along with them" demanded Karashi as he looked up at Naruto defiantly. "I gave them information on you. I tried to help them kill you. I did everything that I could to help them succeed and to see you fail and die! So why didn't you kill me?"

Naruto looked away from Karashi and took up a look that seemed to stretch on for miles. His face was more serene then it had been in a long time, and he didn't seem to be as angry or agitated as he had been before.

"While you are a useless piece of crap, you would still be missed by your mother. She doesn't deserve to feel that kind of pain, just because her son is an idiot" spoke Naruto though his tone was distant. "I didn't kill you because your mother offered me a place to stay even though she didn't know who I was, and was even willing to feed me without asking anything in return. Because you have such a good kind hearted mother, I felt that even if you are a stupid brat, you are her stupid brat, and she doesn't deserve to be heartbroken just because of something stupid you did."

After that Naruto left without saying anything else. He had decided to stay at the Curry of Life Shop for another night so that he could fight Riaga at full power tomorrow and because he needed to straighten Karashi out a bit. He didn't feel like fighting someone who is supposedly ANBU level without being at his one hundred percent best.

Karashi watched as Naruto left and lowered his head down in shame. He had never considered the pain of others and had only done what he had wanted. He never felt that living the life of a curry chief was the life for him, but now he saw that things may not have been as clear to them as they were now.

**XXX**

The dinner that night had been something of a reserved event. Karashi didn't say anything, but seemed to be in deep thought while Naruto appeared to be concentrating on his food so much so that he didn't even taste it. Karashi's mother seemed a bit put off by the odd atmosphere, but she still smiled and offered them seconds.

Karashi was wondering if Naruto was going to tell his mother what he had been up to. He certainly didn't want to see what she would do to him if she found out about his gang activities, but he also felt a bit of guilt for putting her in such a situation without thinking about it first. He knew that he had messed up, but he was hoping that he would be able to fix his mistakes.

Naruto wasn't thinking about much other than the fact he wanted to take Riaga out as soon as possible and collect his bounty. He was interested in those ninja blades that Riaga was carrying around and wanted to examine them for a bit. He was sure that Riaga had a few secrets on him that Naruto could look through after he had killed the man.

He was particularly interested in the blades that Riaga was supposedly holding. He knew a little about them from his time with Kakuzu and Mai, though his in depth knowledge was not as complete as he would have liked it to be. He knew that the blades controlled lighting, and were said to be the sharpest blades in the world, but other than that Naruto didn't know much else.

He knew that he would need to see Riaga fight to learn his strengths and weaknesses, but he would have to do these things on the fly, and without a plan. Kakuzu would ring his neck if he knew that Naruto was running into a battle unprepared, but there was only so much that he could do in order to prepare that he was kind of at a loss.

Naruto's and Kakuzu's fighting styles differed a fair deal from one another, and yet in many ways they were the same. While Kakuzu preferred to end every battle that he could with ninjutsu, he was not adverse to using tiajutsu, especially if he could use his flesh hardening technique that he refused to teach Naruto. Kakuzu wasn't a man who used genjutsu unless he absolutely had to, and Naruto only suspected that he didn't really use it was because his chakra reserves were so big that he was in capable of utilizing genjutsu proficiently and was embarrassed about it.

On the flip side Naruto also liked to use ninjutsu as well. He had always had a love for ninjutsu even as a small child and after spending time with Kakuzu, a ninjutsu master, and Mei, a ninjutsu creator, Naruto's love and usage of ninjutsu had only increased.

The difference in this field between Naruto and Kakuzu was that Kakuzu liked to overpower his enemies with large wide spread elemental jutsu that did massive damage. Naruto on the other hand liked jutsu that either took out a single target with a technique that was fast and precise, or a technique that paralyzed/knocked out an enemy so that he could finish him off at his leisure.

They were in the same boat when it came to genjutsu. Though Naruto had spent many years of his life trying to increase his chakra control, genjutsu had always been his weakness. His massive chakra reserves had been a big boost in his ninjutsu field, but it seemed to be his Achilles heel in genjutsu. Naruto was man enough to admit that he struggled in genjutsu, Kakuzu would sooner smash his own head into tiny pieces then to do anything of the sort.

Once again Kakuzu preferred a rougher tiajutsu style that utilized his weird flesh hardening jutsu. Naruto also liked to fighter rough and aggressively, but because he didn't have the safety of Kakuzu's jutsu, he tended to give himself some room to dodge should his opponent get the better of him. Naruto had also taken to using his tanto as a major weapon, while Kakuzu rarely used any weapon, even the standard kunai to fight with.

'That old bastard probably forgot how to use kunai and such which is probably why he is so embarrassed to try and use them no' thought Naruto as he snorted a bit to himself. Just the thought that Kakuzu not being able to do something as basic as throwing a kunai or a shuriken was far too unreal for Naruto to even begin to wrap his head around.

"Are you alright dear?"

Naruto blinked a bit and realized that Karashi and his mother were looking at him oddly. It took a moment for Naruto to realize that he had been staring off into space. He wanted to berate himself, but rained in his negative emotions.

"Yes, I was just thinking about how long a day it has been" spoke Naruto as he reached over and grabbed his glass of water. He quickly downed it and refilled the glass. 'And it isn't getting any better having to eat this hot ass curry!'

"Oh, did something unexpected happen on your travels in the next town over" asked the old woman not noticing the frightened looks on Karashi's face, nor the look that Naruto sent Karashi.

"Well I was surprised, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle" spoke Naruto as he drank another glass of water. "I ran into some problems in my delivery service when I got to town. A few people were not happy about some of the information that they received, but after a while they came to understand that some things are the way that they are for a reason."

Karashi looked at Naruto like he was crazy, and Naruto looked at Karashi like he was the luckiest bastard he had ever seen in his entire life. Karashi's mother just continued to eat in ignorant bliss.

"Oh, that is too bad" spoke the old woman as she took a sip of her tea. "Well at least you came back to spend another night with us, which is more than I could have hoped for. Please, enjoy another night, and in the morning I will make you a special breakfast."

After that the old woman stood up and walked back into the kitchen. The sound of pots and pans hitting one another could be heard after a while, and then eh sound of water running soon followed. Naruto assumed she was washing the dishes, but he wasn't physic so he couldn't be sure.

"Well I think I will turn in for the night" spoke Naruto as he stood up and began to walk for the stairs. "I have a long day tomorrow and I will need all of the rest that I can get. After all, I have a big client that I need to meet, and we will have to put our all if we want to continue doing what we are doing."

Karashi didn't know what to do. He could always go to Riaga and tell him what he had seen Naruto do, but he still felt bad about not appreciating his mother and messing around with Riaga's gang had been a bad idea from the start, so now he figured it would be in everyone's best interest if he just kept his head low.

**XXX**

Riaga and Ranmaru were standing on a cliff that was looking down on the Curry of Life Shop. Riaga had a sadistic look on his face while Ranmaru had a sad look on his own. Riaga had planned to attack the shop while Naruto was asleep, but Ranmaru didn't want the nice people living there to get hurt.

"I will give him a choice" spoke Riaga as he looked down on the little shop. "If he comes out to face me like a man then I will not destroy that pathetic little shop, but if doesn't then I will sent bolts of lightning down from the heaves so heavily that there will be nothing left but a burn mark upon the earth."

"How do you plan on signaling him" spoke Ranmaru in a disproving tone of voice. "He may not be a sensory ninja, so flexing your chakra may not actually get his attention. Unless you go down there and knock on the door, I don't see how you are going to get him to notice you."

Riaga began to laugh like a mad man which caused Ranmaru to shrink away on Riaga's back. Riaga had been losing touch with reality for a long time, but it had never been this bad before. Ranmaru just assumed that it was stress that had caused him to turn into this monster, but he didn't say anything for the memories that he and Riaga shared.

"Oh, I have my own ways, trust me" spoke Riaga as he held his two Kiba blades high in the air and then crossed them. Soon electricity started to form over the blades. When the jutsu was charged up Riaga shouted "**Lighting Style: Solar Flare Jutsu**!" instantly a ball of lighting shot off into the air, but when it got about half way to the clouds it exploded sending light in all directions. "There, he had to of seen that. If he gets the message then this will be fun, but if he makes me wait then he is going to suffer!"

**XXX**

Sitting in the room that he had rented out Naruto saw as the sky illuminated with the light of a ninjutsu that he had never heard about. At first he had assumed that there was some foreign ninja in the area trying to signal one another, but then he looked out his window the see a man a fair deal away standing over a ledge.

Naruto realized instantly that the man had to be Riaga, and the jutsu had been some sort of challenge. Naruto was surprised that the man had not just attacked him and the house all at once in some sort of sneak attack, but decided that it was probably the man's arrogance that led him to wanting to fight face to face, rather than like a real ninja.

Naruto quickly got redressed and started to prepare for his ultimate show down with Riaga and thought about his options and strategies.

Riaga was a lighting user which was good for Naruto because he was a strong wind style user. Wind style was strong against lighting style, but it rained a lot the lands that he was in, which would increase the power of Raiga's lighting jutsu.

Naruto was sure that Raiga was stronger than him when it came to kenjutsu, due to the man being a part of the famous Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and Naruto only having his White Light Chakra Sabre tanto for about one year. Naruto figured in the least he would be strong enough to hold Raiga off for a while so that he could come up with some other plan to defeat the man.

**XXX**

As Naruto was walking down the stairs to leave the Curry of Life Shop he was confronted by Karashi's mother who seemed to be surprised that he was awake at such an hour, though Naruto eased her mind in telling her that he frequently had to get up at all hours both day and night.

It was true in many ways. Back during the time when he was still training under Mai, she would frequently wake him up at any hour she chose after a long day of training and make him do something stupid like swim ten miles, or run around the Fuma Clan's territory before allowing him to go to sleep.

If that wasn't bad it seemed that Kakuzu had somehow invented a jutsu that converted chakra into stamina which would greatly reduce the need for sleep. Of course if he did have such a jutsu he didn't teach it to Naruto, and since he didn't Naruto was still expected to follow the man wherever he went, even if he didn't stop walking for three days straight.

Karashi's mother had been a bit concerned though. She feared that the bright flash of light in the air had been some kind of ninja or soldier signal, which she would have been correct, but she had assumed it was meant to let troops know that it was time for an invasion.

Naruto wasn't exactly the best when it came to calming people down or making them feel better, as not many people had exactly shown him how that worked, but he was good with playing on words without revealing anything to an enemy, or just someone you just met. This was a skill that both Mai and Kakuzu had drilled into his head saying that it was one of the most important skills he could ever learn in his life.

Eventually he was able to get Karashi's mother to go to bed while he took a stroll around outside. She had been worried about him, but since she wasn't his mother, and for some reason could just tell he could take care of himself, she had dropped her complaints and had done as he said.

Naruto ignored Karashi who was watching him from behind one of the doors entirely. He didn't care if the brat watched him or not. He wasn't worried that Karashi was any threat to him, so even if he did run off to side with Raiga, it wasn't like Raiga was getting anything out of the deal.

With that Naruto opened up the front door and left the house determined to get his bounty. He had spent far too much time with this family, and realized that he had been interacting a fair deal too much as well. Kakuzu always told him how bounty hunters were not supposed to develop attachments, and Naruto was worried that he may fail in this regard more than he even wanted to think about.

**XXX**

It took Naruto about twenty minutes to finally find Raiga. He had thought the man would be waiting for him on the cliff, but it seemed that Raiga wanted to show him something, or just wanted a better place to fight, Naruto hadn't been too sure.

Soon enough though, after fallowing the man long enough, Naruto realized what Raiga wanted to show him. It seemed that Riaga had been busy while Naruto had been away, because it appeared to Naruto that Raiga had somehow rounded up all of the villagers, stuck them into come kind of mobile wood prisons, and then added explosive tags all over them.

Naruto saw that it was basically men who were trapped in the cages, but there were a few women here and there, along with a child or two, but where he got them Naruto wasn't sure. He had been sure that the work camp had been divided up by men and women with the men mining in the gold mines and the women smelting the gold into jewelry for Raiga to sell and make money off of them.

"Hahahahaha, well looks like the hero has finally arrived" shouted Raiga as he began to laugh like a mad man. His green hair as flying all over the places as he did so, making him look like some kind of rock star.

Naruto looked over at Raiga with a confused look on his face. He was wondering where Raiga got hero out of anything that he had done so far. Not once in Naruto's life could he remember doing anything that would be considered something that anyone would call heroic.

"What are you talking about" asked Naruto as he looked at Raiga with a calm neutral look on his face. "Where do you get off calling me a hero? I don't remember doing anything worthy of such a title."

If it was possible Raiga looked even more deranged. Naruto absently thought back to what he knew about the seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and the Hidden Mist Village in general. He needed to know what had happened to this man to make him come out like this.

He knew that the Village Hidden in the Mist was in a civil war. Everyone, from ninja to civilians, knew that much. It was kind of a pointless war really. The village had always been plagued by internal strife, but the newest Mizukage seemed hell bent on destroying all of the bloodline users, a major power within any village. It was almost like the man was trying to weaken his own village on purpose.

Then there was the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. They were known as the Butchers of the Mist in some circles. They never minded getting their hands dirty, and were more than happy to kill anyone, whether they were ninja or civilian, their targets or not, or if they were even allies, though that was less known then the other two facts.

Naruto could only assume that with all the strife in the Land of Water caused by the Mist Ninja, the civil war, and the duties of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Raiga must of snapped somewhere along the road and turned into whatever kind of deranged monster he was now.

"Oh, don't try and hide it or pretend" spoke Raiga as he pointed one of the Kiba blades at one of the cages and fired off a arc of lighting that just barely missed the cages, and the explosive tags, causing everyone in the cages to start shouting their heads off. "I know you are here trying to save these people like some kind of every day super hero!"

Naruto sighed a bit and pulled out the White Light Chakra Sabre and channeled wind chakra through it. "I don't know how or why you went crazy, but know this" spoke Naruto as he closed his eyes. He dramatically opened them and stared down into Raiga's own eyes. "I am no hero. I am here for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to collect the bounty that is on your head."

To Naruto's surprise Raiga started to laugh once again. Naruto was convinced that the man was cracked in the head, but for some reason he felt that he heard some whispering, but just ignored it.

"Well Mr. Bounty hunter, my friend has told me that there is a fair deal about you that is quite interesting" spoke Raiga with a grin on his face. "I wonder why you have all of those threads inside of your body."

That was the last thing Raiga was able to say before he had to dodge an arc of wind chakra that had been released into his direction. He was lucky he reacted so quickly because the technique was quit fast and somewhat hard to see.

"Looks like fun time is over" spoke Raiga as he lifted his Kiba Blades high into the hair.

Naruto watched as lighting fell from the sky and hit the blades causing them to be surrounded in electricity. Naruto found a bit realizing that not only was Raiga better then him with kenjutsu, but he also had two blades that could launch ninjutsu at him without him even needed to weave hand seals.

"Die" shouted Riaga as he charged towards Naruto.

Naruto unleased a series of wind arcs towards Raiga, but the man either dodged them, or blocked them with his own blades. Soon he was right in front of Naruto and began to unleash a barrage of slashes with his blades.

Naruto was quickly being overwhelmed by Raiga's advanced and aggressive kenjutsu style so he pulled out a kunai and channeled wind chakra into it and used it as a second blade to help him hold Raiga off. It worked for the most part, but Naruto was still being pushed back.

Soon their blades clashed and they stared into each other's eyes.

"You are better than I thought you would be" spoke Raiga with a grin on his face.

"Well, like they say, never underestimate an Uzumaki, we are very surprising" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face.

"Well like the other Uzumaki, you will die by a Water Ninja's hands" spoke Riaga quickly angering Naruto like no one's business. Before Naruto could do or say anything though, Riaga shouted "**Lightning Release: Thunder Gate**!"

Naruto was amazed when the natural lighting in the thunder clouds above him started to crackle and Riaga jumped back right before a powerful bolt of lightning rushed from the skies and smashed into Naruto causing wide spread destruction.

"Well, it looks like he wasn't all that impressive" spoke Riaga as he started to turn to walk away.

"He is not dead" spoke Ranmaru.

"That is impossible" spoke Riaga as he turned around to see, to his great surprise, Naruto standing up, albert slowly and in a painful fashion.

Naruto was in an incredible amount of pain, and was thanking that weird guy who gave him his immortality, Kakuzu for his violent tendencies and the Earth Grudge Fear, and Mai for her brutal training regiment, which had all been what led up to Naruto developing a high pain tolerance, which kept Naruto conscience after that last attack.

'Ok, maybe I bit off more than I could chew when I went after a ninja from such a highly prestigious organization like the one Raiga is from. That last jutsu would have been able to kill ninja three times my age, and five times my strength, if I hadn't have my Blessing of Jashin, I would have been dead as well' thought Naruto as he tried to catch his breath.

Many wouldn't have thought it his style, or something that he would do due to his state of mind, but Riaga attacked Naruto when he was trying to catch his breath. He wasn't able to cut Naruto in half like he wanted to, but he was able to lop off Naruto's left arm.

"Ha, it seems you are a tough one, but let's see what you can do with only one arm" spoke Riaga with a contemptuous sneer.

"Well, let's find out" spoke Naruto, right before he did something that made Raiga's stomach turn.

From the area that used to connect Naruto's let forearm was not blood, but countless black threads that were coming out of Naruto's exposed forearm like long black snakes that were moving back and forth menacingly.

"What the hell are you" spoke Raiga as he took a step back.

"Well, I am many things. I am a proud Uzumaki and Fuma clan ninja, a Jashinist, though I don't believe in that messed up god, a Jionguist, the last of my clan, and your executioner" spoke Naruto as he pointed his stubby forearm that had all of the black threads hanging out of it at Riaga and watched with amusement as the rushed out towards him.

Riaga was terrified by what he saw, and kept trying to get distance, or to just avoid the black threads that were coming out of the boy's body. The only reason he had not been captured so far was because Ranmaru was whispering their direction in his ear.

He unleashed powerful lighting styled jutsu at the threads, but no matter how many he destroyed; countless more replaced them to continue to overwhelm him. Eventually he was able to get some distance from himself and Naruto.

"I don't know what in the name of Kami you are, but you will not get me" shouted Raiga, but he was shocked by the grin on Naruto's face.

"I already have you" spoke Naruto.

"Riaga look out" shouted Ranmaru, but it was too late.

Something grabbed Riaga's leg and when he looked down he was shocked to see that it was Naruto's severed arm and hand. He tried to kick it away, but the treads that were coming out of it shout out and wrapped around him restraining him.

To his horror he dropped not only the Kiba Blades, but the carrying case that housed Ranmaru when he fought was removed by the threads and thrown into the air. He was angered and relieved when Naruto caught the bag with the threads coming out of his forearm.

'**Black Thread Bind Technique**' thought Naruto with a grin.

"Now what do we have here" spoke Naruto as he opened up the bag. He was shocked when he saw a small child inside of it, but shrugged his shoulders. "Now what is a kind looking child like you doing with a psycho like him?"

Ranmaru didn't know why, but instead of a scary oppressing look like he had been expecting, he saw a kind and caring look in Naruto's strange purple eyes. He decided to be honest and told Naruto everything.

He told him about being abandoned as a child, about how he was weak and couldn't really do anything strenuous, about how the villagers hated him, about Raiga saving him to some extent, then their travels, and finally Raiga's decent into madness.

Naruto could relate to Ranmaru more than anyone he had ever met. He thought about taking Ranmaru with him, or sending him to the Fuma clan, but ultimately he felt that Ranmaru deserved a chance to be normal for once, so he created a clone and passed Ranmaru off to it.

"The Lady who runs the Curry of Life Shop is a very kind and loving person. If you ask, I am sure that she will take you in and show you a life that doesn't involve bloodshed. I can't promise anything extravagant, but it will be one full of love, something that people like us rarely ever get the chance to feel" spoke Naruto with a small kind smile.

Ranmaru had to think about it for a moment, but eventually he realized that Raiga was not the man who had saved him that day. That Raiga was gone. All that was left was a mad man who enjoyed burring people alive, and that wasn't something Ranmaru was ok with. After nodding, the clone started to take Ranmaru to Karashi's mother to start a new life.

Naruto looked over at Raiga who was fighting and hollering profanities left and right and could only smirk. He couldn't wait to rub it in Kakuzu's face that he had taken down a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist while he was just twelve years old all by himself. He was sure that was stick something fierce to Kakuzu's nerves for quite a while.

"You little bastard bring Ranmaru back here this instant" shouted Raiga as he glared down at Naruto with hate filled eyes. "When I get out of here I am going to roast you alive, then I will kill all of the people that Ranmaru is staying with, before I drag him back and make him work for me again!"

Naruto smirked a bit which only infuriated Raiga even more. "Sorry Raiga, but unfortunately for you, that opportunity will not be presenting itself to you. You see you are wanted dead or alive, so this is the end for you. Since you are so heartless and brutal, I don't think you will need that heart of yours" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face.

Naruto willed the black thread to pierce Riaga's chest and enter his body before connecting with and wrapping around his still beating heart. With one quick tug Naruto ripped out Raiga's heart with one tug causing the man to shout out in agony before finally dying.

To Naruto's surprise though the black threads didn't just drop the heart like he had expected them to, but went into some kind of auto pilot mode and pulled the heart into Naruto's severed arm and then into his body. The threads situated the new heart inside the right side of his chest, right next to his current heart.

Naruto felt a flood of chakra rushing through his body and fell to his knees breathing a bit heavily. This new chakra was increasing his current chakra greatly, though Naruto knew it was going to be a pain because now he would need to increase his chakra control. After a few minutes the chakra finished mixing with Naruto's own and everything went back to normal.

'What was that' wondered Naruto as he felt his hearts beating at the same time. 'Why did the Earth Grudge Fear take in Raiga's heart? I know the Jiongu is somewhat sentient, but what could its purpose be for giving me a second heart?'

Naruto thought about it for a moment, but then remembered Kakuzu telling him that it was due to the Earth Grudge Fear's unique abilities that he was able to utilize all five of the basic natural elements to the level of a master.

Naruto had always just assumed that it just gave him the affinities, but after he had gotten it he checked and was disappointed to see that he still only had, though it was still great, a strong wind and earth affinity.

Naruto figured he may as well go for it and pulled out a spare piece of chakra paper that he had on him in case the Earth Grudge Fear ever did decide to give him the ability to use all five elements that he might check to make sure.

He channeled his chakra though the paper and watched with baited breath as it first split down the middle, signifying his wind affinity, then one side crumbled into dark pieces that were larger than the standard was, and then the other side crumpled up signifying a lighting affinity.

Naruto could only crack a devious grin as he thought 'Oh, yes, I can use this nicely.'

After that Naruto grabbed and threw Riaga's body over his shoulder. He would need to trade it in for the money, and for some renown in the underground black market, though being the apprentice of Kakuzu gave him plenty of it, and then he sealed the Kiba blades.

He wasn't sure if he was going to sell them or keep them yet, but he knew that he wasn't going to utilize them himself. They just were not his style. Finally he used the threads to reconnect his arm and to keep it in place. He knew that his healing factor would have his arm back as good as new in a few hours, all he had to do was wait for a bit now.


	10. Chapter 10

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 10]**

**(The New Job)**

**XXX**

In the Land of Fang a young man was getting a fairly large surprise. This young man was the same young man who had killed before he turned ten, he had been trained by a man who would as soon as kill you as do something for you, and a man who had survived training that would be considered to brutal to watch let alone be inflicted upon one's self.

He had been enjoying a relatively good day. He had killed a few low level ninja and had just turned their bodies in for cold hard cash. He hadn't found them a challenge and had been fairly unhappy since his trip to the Land of Hills where he had fought one of the illustrious members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist.

It had been a battle that had his heart racing and he didn't know if he would be able to walk away or not. In all honesty, Naruto had been a little worried he was becoming an adrenalin junky, but pushed the thought out of his head. He figured it would only help as he would not get bored fighting, and if he enjoyed a rush, then his plans would assure him of all the adrenalin he could ask for.

His battle with Riaga had been spectacular, and he made quite a bit of money from it as well. He was sure that Kakuzu would be so pissed off when he found out that Naruto had defeated such a high level shinobi while he was out working for some weird organization that he called "Akatsuki", whatever that was.

That battle had been beneficial to Naruto in many ways. He had gained a powerful new weapon in the Kiba Blades. They were sharp enough to cut through his arm like a hot knife through butter, and even had the power to somehow control natural lighting, something that Naruto hadn't even thought possible until he fought Riaga.

On the other hand he had also learned a very interesting, and exciting new fact about his kinjutsu. Apparently Kakuzu hadn't told him all that there was about the kinjutsu (Not that he had really told him anything. All Naruto knew was from watching the man at work) as he learned that Kakuzu was able to utilize all five of the basic elements to their fullest because he had stolen the hearts of other shinobi who had affinities for whatever affinity Kakuzu hadn't, and then he used the Jiongu to tap into their chakra networks.

This was both interesting and depressing all at the same time for Naruto. He realized that by using the Jiongu in this way he would be able to use all five nature elements, but that was only if he were able to keep them intact. If one of them were damaged then he was sure that he would lose his affinity for whatever element that the heart possessed.

Another problem that Naruto had run into was a very basic one. Space, not the space in outer space, but space as in the amount of room that matter takes up. It was very basic stuff. A full grown man's heart was larger than his own. It also took up a fair deal of room in his body. With the amount of room in his body that he could spare, Naruto estimated that he would only be able to fit three hearts inside of his body at a time, until he grew up a bit.

With the limitations on his size Naruto knew that he was at a disadvantage when compared to Kakuzu, but he did have some advantages on the ancient giant. While Kakuzu was large and could fit more hearts inside of his body, Naruto was basically immortal and did not have to worry about his original heart being destroyed. On top of that, Naruto's original heart had two strong natural affinities, which meant that he would always be able to use at least two elements (an offensive and defensive element at that) to their fullest potential.

The up side to all of this though was very simple. Naruto loved ninjutsu, and elemental ninjutsu had always captivated him. With the Jiongu, Naruto would be able to master elements for all five of the basic elements within a short amount of time, and get the maximum results for his efforts. It was something that kept him up at night with excitement.

On the other hand the Jiongu also possessed an offensive capability of its own. The black threads had proven themselves highly capable in combat with their strength and speed, so even without the elements he knew that he was not helpless. He just hoped that the black threads gave him a heads up the next time they decided to go on autopilot.

It did worry Naruto a bit knowing that the black threads inside of his body seemed to have some semblance of sentience to them. He was sure that they didn't have their own agenda, but it was easy to see that they were able to act on their own. Naruto had wondered if this was just to help him, or to help itself.

That being said Naruto had not begun to learn to harness his new lighting affinity even in the slightest. He had become interested in his first kinjutsu, the **Gift of Jashin** and the book that the mad man who had placed it upon him had left for him.

Naruto had already learned a bit from the book while he was staying in the Fuma clan with Mai. He learned that he could use and control his blood, and had trained a bit with it, but had never really had the time to devote himself to it.

Being that Naruto didn't have someone there to teach him lightning release, or any new jutsu, he decided to take out the book and learn from it. After all, idol hands are wasted hands.

In fact Naruto had been reading the book when he stumbled upon the weird sight that currently had him so captivated.

At first Naruto had believed that someone was using some kind of weird jutsu, but it was coming from side of a tree and Naruto knew from Kakuzu's sinister history lesson about the first Hokage and his wood release techniques that nobody other than the first Hokage could use wood release.

The weird movement eventually revealed green hair which was surprising, but nowhere as surprising as the rest of the man/creature that popped out of the tree. One side was a solid black color while the other side was a sold white color. Oddly the black side didn't have a mouth, not pupils, just one big solid yellow eye that creeped Naruto out. The other side did have an eye, but it didn't have a pupil. It was solid yellow as well, but instead of taking up the entire eye, it only took up about the size of a normal human eye.

The rest of the man was no less weird by Naruto's definition, and Naruto knew weird very well.

He was wearing a weird black coat like how Kakuzu's when he and Naruto would work together, but this one had weird red clouds on it. Naruto had been worried at first, but when he finally came out of the tree Naruto saw his ankles and noticed that there where the bottom of pants, meaning this thing wasn't free balling it under the cloak. As far as Naruto could tell they were standard ANBU pants though his feet had solid black sandals on them.

The final thing that made Naruto do a double take was the giant Venus flytrap like protrusion sticking out of his body. Naruto realized that it was a bit hypocritical judging someone else on their appearance given that he had thousands of black threads calling his body home, but this guy was just too weird to him.

Naruto reached towards his back where his tanto that Kakuzu had given him was. He quietly griped the hilt and eyed the weird creature closely in case it decided to attack him. He also noted that he should get a coat like that as well; it was really cool in Naruto's opinion.

"Hello there, you wouldn't happen to be Naruto now would you" asked the white side in a kind, almost docile tone of voice that surprised Naruto. "We have been looking for you all day, and we have found it most difficult to track you, if you are indeed Naruto."

Naruto wondered why this creature was looking for him, but couldn't get the fact that only the white side's mouth was moving, not that the black side had a mouth, but still he wondered he was able to create words with only one side of his face.

"Who wants to know" asked Naruto, deciding that neutrality would be better than hostility. It never failed to bite someone in the ass that didn't use manners or common sense when it would have easily made their lives so much better simply because they thought they were big and bad, or just had an attitude problem.

"**He has that same look that Kakuzu has**" spoke the black half, freaking Naruto out because not only did it not have a mouth, and still was able to speak, but its personality was the opposite of the white half. "**If he wasn't Naruto, then he would have simply told us that we have the wrong person, but he gave up an answer that really didn't give us a solution to our question.**"

Naruto soon realized that the weird black half was the brains behind this two man operation. The white half seemed to be the public face, metaphorically speaking, which used kindness instead of hostility to try and coax out what it wanted.

If the white half didn't get what they were looking for, then the black half came in and caught the other speaker off guard with his logic and bold behavior. It must have been like a hawk waiting for its prey to lower its guard then swoop in to take out the victim when they were unawares.

"Oh, that makes sense" spoke the white half. It was odd because it really did look surprised, even though Naruto assumed they shared the same brain. "I was wondering why he gave us such a roundabout answer."

"**You really are an idiot sometimes**" spoke the black half before it looked back down at Naruto. "**No matter, we have who we are looking for now.**"

While they were talking Naruto was thinking to himself trying to figure out what was going on. Kakuzu and Mai had made it very clear that the best tool a shinobi can have is their mind. A strong mind is worth more than any jutsu, and would save you every time, while said jutsu would only be useful in a limited number of situations.

'Ok, let me get this straight. The right and left sides seem to be two different beings though they share the same body, even the same brain, so why is it they are so different? Obviously they would see and experience things the same way, they are always together, so why is it that they are so different while seemingly are the same entity' wondered Naruto as he continued to push his brain to come up with a solution. Naruto was naturally a sly person, often being compared to a fox, but he always thought about things in a way that kept his enemies guessing, while breaking down enemy's plans was a bit more difficult.

Zetsu looked down on Naruto and observed him for a moment. He was used to being the errand boy of the Akatsuki, and he was also used to people being shocked by his appearance. He was used to it, so Naruto's hard look did little to nothing to bother him.

He was surprised though. The usually silent, if not rage induced Kakuzu actually came to him with an errand for him to run. At first he thought it was pointless, but the look in Kakuzu's eyes said that it wasn't a request, and in the interest of peace in the Akatsuki, he did as he was asked.

The mission did surprise him, but the fact that he could not understand Kakuzu's reasoning was bothering Zetsu. Being what Zetsu was he prided himself on believing that he was smarter than any human alive, and had easily come up with reasons as to why in some cases humans were smarter than he was, but Kakuzu had always been different.

Kakuzu was old, really old. He was nearly a hundred years old and had lived a majority of his life alone. At first Zetsu had believed he would be easy to anticipate, just look to where the money was and you would find all you needed to know about Kakuzu. It had been because of this ideal that Zetsu had been proven so wrong about Kakuzu.

The man was quick to anger, and his reason where always shrouded in secrecy. Understanding him quickly proved to be much more difficult than Zetsu had predicted, so Zetsu had taken it upon himself to study Kakuzu more, finding the challenge fun.

He had believed that he had figured Kakuzu out, but then all of a sudden Kakuzu left the organization for about two years before coming back, and never did he give a real reason as to why he left. Soon Zetsu found out that he was training an apprentice, but who it was or why he was doing was once again a mystery.

After his return Zetsu noticed that Kakuzu had changed a fair deal. He was still the insufferable ass that he was before, but he seemed less likely to anger, and even a bit less violent, though many didn't notice this. Zetsu had been interested in Kakuzu's new change in personality, but knew that Kakuzu would never answer any of his questions, so he stuck with watching and observing him.

It wasn't until recently that Kakuzu had reacted differently then he would have expected. It just so happened that Zetsu had been with him when his behavior surprised him.

Kakuzu had been going through the new bingo book when he found out that Riaga of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist had been taken out, and that his large bounty had been collected. It wasn't that Riaga being captured that surprised him it seemed, but more in the way he had been killed that captivated the bounty hunter so.

Apparently the missing Kiri nin's heart had been ripped out of his chest, which was odd, but still it shouldn't have surprised Kakuzu to such a degree. Zetsu had gotten the privilege to watch Kakuzu leave and go to one of his connections in the black market to question him about Riaga's killer.

The bounty hunters face really showed how determined he was to find the killer, but in the end he seemed pleased for some reason. Zetsu watched Kakuzu pore over the bingo book for weeks until he approached him and told him to deliver his message to a boy named Naruto.

After getting all the info that he could, he left and went looking for the boy. Usually Zetsu didn't have such a difficult time finding someone, but this Naruto boy seemed to have a weird chakra signal, so hunting the boy down had been difficult.

"So are you" asked the white side snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.

"What" spoke Naruto, berating himself on the inside for letting his concentration lapse in the face of a possible enemy?

"**He was asking if you really were Naruto Uzumaki, though I don't see the point. I know that you are, but this softy really doesn't get the whole deductive reasoning bit**" spoke the black half insulting his white counterpart even in a passive aggressive way.

"Yea I am Naruto" spoke Naruto not seeing any reason to keep on lying. "What is it to you, whoever you are?"

"Oh, I am sorry, my name is Zetsu" spoke white Zetsu, but he was cut off from saying any more by his black half.

"**He doesn't need out bios! Now, give the boy Kakuzu's message so that we can get out of this god forsaken land**" spoke the black half as he berated his white half again for being such a softy.

"Wait, did you two say Kakuzu sent you" spoke Naruto, not sure how he should take his sensei being involved with such… interesting people. "What connections do you two or one have with Kakuzu, and why are you to running messages for him?"

"We belong to the same group… OOFPH!" The White Zetsu was cut off before he could say any more by the black Zetsu.

"**Our organization is supposed to be a secret you blabber mouth!**" The Black Zetsu seemed to sigh in exasperation from dealing with his white half.

Naruto could relate Kakuzu was a difficult person to deal with as well.

"**Just give him Kakuzu's message so that we can get out of here already**" the black Zetsu nearly shouted as he seemed to breathe more heavily than he had been a minute ago.

"Oh, ok" spoke the white Zetsu in a submissive manner. "So, right, Kakuzu sent us to tell you that he has someone that he wants you to take out. He says that you can keep fifty percent of whatever you make and he will take the rest as his informant fee."

Naruto was a bit surprised that Kakuzu wanted him to take out someone to his specifications. He wasn't completely surprised though because he couldn't see any other reason Kakuzu would want to communicate with him, but the fifty percent thing was not ok with Naruto.

"I hope he gave you more than just a name because I am not going to go around hunting down a shadow for him" spoke Naruto in a 'this is final' tone of voice. "I need to continue to get stronger. I have my own goals, though Kakuzu is a good ally to have, but he doesn't own me."

"**Well this is a surprise.**" The black Zetsu's opinion of Naruto seemed to increase a bit. "**I had suspected a loyal servant when I thought of what Kakuzu's apprentice would be like, but he seems to be much different than I had previously believed him to be.**"

"Yes he has a good deal of spirit. I had suspected he would be nearly devoid of emotion, or be half psychotic" spoke the white half like he was talking about the weather. "It is good to see that he still has his mind."

"Hey ass whole or ass wholes I'm not sure, don't talk about me like I am not here!" Naruto was gritting his teeth at the passive way in which this thing was talking to him.

"Yes I see that" spoke the white half in a kind tone.

'This guy… I don't know if he is trying to piss me off, or if he just has an infuriating personality.' Naruto looked at the creature for a moment before deciding that he was tired of all this. "Just give me the information that Kakuzu gave you to give to me."

"**Finally**" spoke the black half as he pulled out a scroll and threw it to Naruto. "**That scroll should have what you need, but it doesn't have everything.**"

Naruto opened up the scroll and read through it for a moment. It said that there was a man operating by the coast or close to the Land of Waves who was an accomplice of a man named Orochimaru, someone that Naruto knew about fairly well thanks to all his time reading the bingo books, and that the man was also a scientist.

Apparently Kakuzu didn't like this Orochimaru character because Orochimaru was searching for some kind of immortality. Naruto thought it was stupid, and Kakuzu seemed to think it was infuriating, so Kakuzu seemed to want to do all that he could to hinder or stop the Snake Sannin's operations.

"It says that he wants me to find and take out this Amachi person, but his skills are not listed, nor is any specific information" spoke Naruto in an annoyed tone.

"Yes, unfortunately Kakuzu seems to think you rely too much on his connections and wants you to start doing your own investigations" spoke white Zetsu with a friendly smile.

Naruto just grit his teeth, but before he could retort black Zetsu started to speak.

"**Yes, it seems that your skills and abilities are just copies of Kakuzu's. You don't seem to possess any originality of your own.**" Black Zetsu's words cut the deepest because not only where they true, but also was the fact that his skills were so inferior to Kakuzu's that his mimicked style looked even more pathetic by comparison.

'Damn it, I will show Kakuzu that I am not just some cheap copy' thought Naruto with a dark look in his eyes. 'I will just have to come up with something that sets us apart, which may take some time, but no longer will I just be a miniature Kakuzu.'

"Fine, I will start getting my own contacts, and then I won't need Kakuzu for anything" shouted Naruto as he pocketed the scroll and turned around. He quickly set a fast pace towards the Land of Waves.

"A feisty one isn't he" spoke white Zetsu.

"**He has too much energy. I couldn't imagine what Kakuzu must go through being around a boy like that all day. It would be worse than what I have to deal with when I am with you**" spoke black Zetsu as he and white Zetsu started to merge with the tree.

"Oh, you are always so mean" spoke white Zetsu with a fake hurt voice.

"**Shut up weakling**" was all that black Zetsu said as they disappeared completely within the tree.

**XXX**

The Land of Waves had once been a beautiful place with white sandy beaches, clear blue waters, gentle breezes, and clear sky's full of the sun's great warm energy. Now the Land of Waves was dark and misty creating an ominous feeling in the air along with a sense of dread.

The cause of this was a man named Gato, who even though was one of the richest men in the world, was still not happy with his acquired wealth. He sought to establish a point in which he could control then use to import and export his illegal merchandise, thus the Land of Waves because his newest target.

It was not hard for Gato to take over the country, nor was it illegal, well not in the beginning. He used his vast wealth to buy up all of the businesses and industry in the small island nation, and then he started to send in some muscle. After a while he had the country's Daimyo right where he wanted him, powerless and in fear.

After the Daimyo was moved out of the way, he had free reign to do as he pleased. He cut off communication with the main land so that his new subjects could not start to spread rumors about what he was doing there, or else a force that he hated, feared, respected, and loathed would come in and put a crash to his parade, ninjas.

Gato hated and loved ninjas more than anything else on the planet, besides money, power, and fear. They had the power to take over any nation that they wanted, and had the power to keep the people there in line no matter what they did. With ninja at his side Gato knew that he could do anything that he wanted, and never have to worry about any trouble.

The sad part though was that shinobi and their villages were hard to find, and nearly impossible to corrupt in the way that Gato liked to do. Gato's style was to use money and force to get his way, but you could not buy lands within a Hidden Village's territory unless you were a part of the ninja village, but if you were then you would be watched like a hawk.

Without the ability to manipulate the economy of the Hidden Villages, and because his thugs could not bully the ninja around, not even in their wildest dreams, Gato's influence over the Hidden Villages was at a level of zero.

That didn't mean though that ninja help was out of his reach though. Like all humans, which ninja were, some were unhappy with their lot in life and chose to do something a little frowned upon, such as leave their village, and become a criminal.

These missing ninja were always in need of money, and because they were being chased down like animals by their ex hidden villages they were willing to do nearly anything. This was something that Gato had used in the past to great efficiency, but he was always weary of being discovered by the missing ninja's hidden village and being tried as aiding and abetting a missing ninja, a fate that was to crew to mention.

Recently Gato had come to need shinobi help, so using his connections in the underworld Gato had been able to obtain the serves of a very powerful missing ninja, or so he had been told. The man went by the name Zabuza Momochi, and he had a small crew of three other ninja with him. Normally this would bother Gato, but it was cheaper this way, and with what he had heard Zabuza should be able to take care of any problems he may have.

Naturally seeing a good deal Gato jumped on it and hired Zabuza right away. He really didn't like shoveling out the money to pay for such a high level missing ninja, but he was sure that with someone like Zabuza at his side there was no one who would be able to oppose him.

Gato wasn't happy to say it, but the original reason why he had hired Zabuza was because his hired lackeys were not doing what they were supposed to be doing. Gato wasn't stupid, he realized that it was partially his fault that the bridge builder had gotten away, after all, to think that hired thugs with little to no real training would be able to tell when someone has run away when they were not being watched at all times was asking a bit much. Hire thugs were pretty stupid after all.

**XXX**

Inside the Land of Waves was a giant cocoon shaped fortress that the Missing Ninja Zabuza Momochi, also known as the Demon of the Mist was staying, along with his two henchmen and prologue Haku.

He had been hired by some little man with way too much money in his pockets and far too much self-pride to kill some run about civilian. At first Zabuza thought it was a trap, but when he learned that the bridge builder had gone into the Land of Fire, more than likely looking for ninja help, he realized that the mission was ok so he took it.

He didn't like Gato in the least. The man wore an ugly little suit and his beady eyes really worked the missing nin's nerves because in them he could see that Gato really only saw him as a lesser creature when compared to himself. He was getting tired of the man ordering him around, and if the money didn't start to flow in soon then Gato would be missing a head.

The reason he had not already left though was because he needed more money if he was going to start his own rebellion and also because his followers needed to keep their skills sharp. If he waited too long then they would undoubtedly just get weaker, and in the world of missing ninja the weak get eaten and the strong survive.

'We need to find a way to gain more money quickly, without raising the ire of the Hidden Villages who would quickly send their best ANBU to try and take me out' thought Zabuza as he sat in his chair. Resting against his side was his faithful companion, the Executioner's Blade.

"Lord Zabuza, I have just sensed a strong chakra signature entering the island" came the muffled voice of his student Haku. "What would you have us do?"

"Why not send us" asked one of the demon brothers as he came out of the shadows.

"Yes, we could deal with one little chakra signature" spoke the other brother with a slight chuckle. "We would shred him up good."

Zabuza thought about it for a moment before turning back to look at them with a sharp look. "No, if only one chakra signature was sensed then it is possible that it was a mistake and the shinobi with it are skilled enough to hide their chakra from a novice sensory ninja" spoke Zabuza, though he did notice the slight lowering of Haku's head. "I will go just to make sure that whoever this is is actually alone. I will bring Haku with me, just in case, but I want you two to keep an eye on Gato. He seems like the type who would stab you in the back."

"Yes my lord" spoke the first demon brother right before he disappeared into the shadows.

"As you wish my lord" spoke the second brother as he followed the first into the shadows.

"Haku, don't sweat it. You have come a long way in your sensory training with the skills that you have. I wish I could teach you how to harness your unique ability, but like your other skill, it is one you will have to harness alone" spoke Zabuza as he left to confront the newest threat.

"Yes my lord" spoke Haku as she followed Zabuza.


	11. Chapter 11

**[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 11]**

**(Zombie vs Demon)**

**XXX**

The Land of Wave during the summer was both hot and muggy. The natural mist that usually clung to the island was like a fog that made any effort seem ten times more difficult than before. It clung to the skin making sweating less effective, and when breathed in the water in the fog make catching your breath harder as well.

Due to the shift in temperatures and the ocean the fog only got worse during the hotter months of the year. This made many people who were not from the island nation very uncomfortable and irritable. This goes double for someone who had been trained to wear a cloak or heavy jacket while working.

Naruto had been forced to work in some of the worst situations and places imaginable by both his mentor Kakuzu, his clan the Fuma, and their leader Mai. He had been trained mainly in the Land of Rain where the rain almost never stopped causing repertory issues, and depression in the humans who lived there. He had been taken to the Land of Frost to kill someone who owed Kakuzu money and had been left there for a month because Naruto had complained one too many times about the cold. He had been forced to live in Suna because apparently a good number of ninja defected from there.

The only place he really didn't have any first hand experience suffering was the Land of Water, because of all the destruction the country was suffering and because of how dangerous the area was.

The black jacket that Naruto wore to emulate his teacher, rescuer, and unfortunately role model was horrible in the back water country of the Land of Waves. The fog clung both inside and outside of the jacket and the muggy distaste felt by the people staying in the country was tripled because of it.

A normal person would have gotten rid of the jacket as soon as they entered the country, but Naruto knew that it was needed to keep his skills hidden from his enemies, unless he went full force in a fight. Kakuzu had been adamant about nobody learning the secrets of his technique, to prevent anyone from gaining the upper hand on him.

This left him being forced to keep it on him, unless he wished to feel Kakuzu's wrath once again, which at the moment he was willing to risk if he could just get some relief.

"Damn this fog just keeps getting worse" spoke Naruto as he continued to walk through the forest that covered most of the island nation.

There were bugs, snakes, animals, fungi, plants, and trees that looked almost as deadly as Naruto felt he was. The bugs had either nasty colors or large pincers on them that didn't look like it would feel pleasant to be bitten by them. The same could be said about the snakes that Naruto could see judging by their pointed heads were poisonous.

The trees and plants were long and droopy which ended up with them blocking out a fair deal of sun light. There was moss clinging to them causing the forest to feel even more cluttered than it had before. The real danger was in the plants and trees because that is where the trapper insects lived that would no doubt leave him in a world of hurt.

Naruto stopped walking and started to look around. The fog that had been slightly obscuring his vision and causing him so many issues was now starting to get thicker, and the muggy feeling was leaving him only to be replaced with a sense of refreshment. This was no longer fog, but instead it had turned into mist.

'This is abnormal' thought Naruto as he looked around.

His vision was nearly gone now and he could only make out faint trees in the distance. His vision was totaled, but he noticed that his other senses were still intact, so he wasn't as worried as he had been.

The seconds turned into minutes but still nothing happened. The croaking of frogs and rasping of insects was all that could be heard besides Naruto's rapidly increasing heart beats. The fog and mist may have been thick, but Naruto felt he could cut the tension in the air with a kunai.

Suddenly a swooping sound could be heard in the air, but Naruto couldn't tell where it was coming from. As the sound got louder Naruto realized it was a projectile causing him to jump up high into one of the trees. It was fortunate because a giant something came crashing through the forest slicing the tree he had been standing beside in half before lodging itself into a larger tree twenty feet away.

Naruto looked around, but still could not see where his enemy was. He was positive it was a Kiri ninja, and since he was hunting a high profile mist ninja who was a master of the Silent Killing Style it was more than likely that the hunter had become the prey.

A deep raspy voice started to come from the forest with a sharp bit of condescension to it.

"Well it looks like you are not the brat that I thought you were" spoke the voice in the mist. "I guess I will get to play with you a bit longer." The voice went silent, and Naruto thought he was going to attack, but it seemed he wasn't done just yet. "It is unfortunate that you decided to come here boy. You have come to the wrong place at the wrong time and now you must die!"

"Zabuza Momochi, A ranked nuke ninja from the Land of Water. You have a high bounty on your head for attempting a coup de ta against the current Mizukage, though you still failed" spoke Naruto with condescension in his tone that rivaled even someone like Kakuzu.

There was a silence in the mist and for some reason Naruto was starting to believe that Zabuza was shocked that a boy like him knew who he was and was also not worried about it.

"As you have probably guessed by now, I am not in the wrong place at the wrong time. I came here hunting a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and I am going to do just that." The silence in the mist was deafening by now. "You will be the second member of your group that I killed, though I can already tell you will be more of a challenge then Raiga."

The silence continued and Naruto prepared himself for an attack, but was pleasantly surprised when Zabuza started to talk to him again. Obviously he was taking this fight more seriously, and wanted to know what had happened to the craziest member of their group.

"You took down Riaga, hmph, no wonder you are so over confident if you can kill a weakling like him" spoke Zabuza with a dark chuckle. There was no honor amongst thieves, and mist ninja were not known for being loyal either. "He was a joke who only got to join the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist because Ameyuri Ringo died from a terminal illness!"

Strain his ears as he might Naruto was not a master of fighting in the dark like Zabuza seemed to be. Naruto figured that Kakuzu wouldn't have his own difficulties with something like this. Naruto was sure that Kakuzu had been to the Land of Water to hunt bounties before so the mist was undoubtedly not an issue for him.

"Ringo was a true master of the Kiba blades. She could call down bolts of lightning that could level entire forests, fight in the mist like she had lived in it her entire life, and her speed, dexterity, and skill with them was so great that no one stood to match her power!" It was obvious that Zabuza respected Ringo very much to speak so highly of her. "Even Kisame, the "Monster of the Mist" fled in fear of her prowess with those blades. The Kiba blades control natural lighting, and without Samehada's chakra absorption ability Kisame realized he wasn't able to defeat her. It is unfortunate she had died. She could have easily taken the Mizukage and led the Mist to a much better future."

That was weird. It almost sounded like Zabuza was remorseful or something akin to it. Why would someone how proudly proclaimed them self as the "Demon of the Mist" feel remorse? There was obviously more to this than met the eye, but Kakuzu had taught him long ago to separate his feeling from his work.

'First thing is first, I need to try and get rid of all this mist' thought Naruto as he started to run though hand signs. When he was done he shouted out **"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!" **Instantly Naruto exhaled a powerful gust of wind that rushed through the forest causing the trees to bend backwards and sending other debris along with it.

Unfortunately the mist was one of the things that stayed regardless of how powerful the wind was. Apparently this jutsu could not be simply blown away by a minor wind style jutsu, even if Naruto had pumped more chakra into it than he had really should have.

The mist stayed where it was and obscured the victim's vision as it was meant to. Even Naruto's sensory skills, as limited as they were, did not help him much in this mist. Naruto assumed that it was because the mist was filled with Zabuza's chakra, leaving Naruto with the sense that Zabuza was everywhere at once.

Zabuza's chuckling could be heard through the mist, though Naruto still couldn't find him. The chuckling sounded like it was bouncing off of everything. The sound somehow seemed to bounce off the trees, the ground, the plants, and even the small life forms in the forest. If it wasn't for Naruto's unique situation he would be worried about dying right now.

"You really think that something as weak as a low level wind jutsu would be enough to break through this jutsu? You really are a child" spoke Zabuza through the mist. "I am getting tired of playing these childish games. It is time for you do die."

The insult to his pride hurt more than anything. He had trained relentlessly since he was a child by some of the best teachers one could ask for, and yet he was still being treated like a third class shinobi by this man. His pride wouldn't let this travesty go on, but his mind knew that he wasn't in much of a position to complain.

He already knew that if Kakuzu found out about this he would be feeling pain from then to possibly forever. Kakuzu would treat him like a child who could not handle himself, and would also berate him for going after someone like Zabuza without so much as a strategy for taking him out.

'Man this sucks' though Naruto as he looked around, though admittedly he didn't see much. 'I can't see shit in this mist, my sense of hearing isn't as good as Zabuza's so I can't track down opponents in here, and my sense of smell, while impressive, lacks training.'

The mist got thicker blocking out even the sun for the most part. Animals didn't like the unnatural mist and left a while ago, meaning there wasn't any sound inside of the woods other than Naruto's own heartbeat. The second turned to minutes, and the minutes felt like hours. It was getting so bad that Naruto was sure he was going to have an anxiety attack.

Zabuza was hiding up in one of the trees looking down on Naruto. The boy had obvious skill, and had faced death more than once if his lack of fear was anything to go on. He was still reeling from the fact that the brat had been able to dodge his initial attack with the Executioner's blade.

Watching the boy he could see that he had great senses. They had not been honed to the level of his own, but he had a natural skill with his senses, and was even able to heighten them slightly on instinct. Zabuza wasn't worried about the boy finding him in this mist, he had sharp senses, but they were not trained yet.

Still he found that the boy, who looked to be around twelve maybe a bit younger, was a promising candidate for a student, or subordinate. He seemed skilled with wind style ninjutsu, and if that tanto he had seen momentarily was anything to go on he had some kenjutsu training.

There was also the fact that he had already killed Riaga. Riaga wasn't that strong, though he was still jonin class, he still should have been far too much for a kid like this to lose to.

At first Zabuza had believed that it was possible that the boy wasn't alone. He could be the bait to lure him out then strike when the iron was hot, but after searching around when he initial created the mist he was positive the boy was alone.

'This is fortunate' though Zabuza as he grabbed hold of the Executioner's blade. 'If he killed Riaga, then that means he probably still has the Twin Blades. With those on our side the strength of our group will drastically increase. Maybe one of the demon brothers would make a good candidate. I would normally teach Haku, but she needs at least one hand to use her ice release, so she is out. Pity, I could see her becoming the next Ringo.'

With that thought out of the way Zabuza jumped into the mist and disappeared once again. There were no sounds of a landing, no feet crushing grass or leaves, and no breathing sounds either. It was silent, and in the silence death shall follow.

Naruto pulled out the White Light Chakra Sabre just in time to block an over the head strike from Zabuza. The immense strength along with the blade's own weight made it an attack that he was not able to withstand.

He was easily lifted up off of his feet and sent flying through the air before coming to an abrupt stop thanks to a strong tree. The audible popping sounds along with the gasp were sure fire sounds that the victim was in pain.

Zabuza wasted no time and quickly pressed his advantage. He ran straight at Naruto with full speed intent on not only cutting him in half, but also the tree he was leaning against as well.

This turned out to have nearly been a bad idea. While neither of them could see in the mist, Zabuza could hear, and make very skilled educated guesses thanks to the sounds. The sound of someone's hands coming together, along with a foreign chakra mixing with his mist, told Zabuza he needed to get out of the way. With a strong grunt he shoved chakra into his legs before jumping him into the air.

Naruto knew that the bones in his back and ribs were broken, but he could shrug of injuries like that with ease. It still hurt extremely badly, but thanks to the blessing, physical damage really wasn't something that would even slow him down.

Knowing that someone as skilled as Zabuza, whose job had been much the same as Kakuzu's, would press the advantage Naruto grinned thinking that he had finally caught his rat. It had been a risky move, but he was sure that he would get him this time.

He quickly gathered his chakra into his palms and slammed them together. When he had compressed enough wind chakra he pushed it forward tearing everything in front of his hands into rubble. The mist blocked out most of the damage, but Naruto knew what that jutsu was capable of.

"Hmph, bet you're not sitting so pretty now are you" spoke Naruto with a grin on his face. 'Well that is two members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, just five more and I will have a complete set.'

"Wrong answer..."

Naruto's eyes went wide as a black figure landed right in front of him. At this distance Naruto could make out the figure as the one he had been hunting. The man was a giant, when compared to Naruto, and had a giant carving knife on his back.

"Damn, I missed" was all Naruto was able to get out before Zabuza took hold of his blade and swung with all his might. There was a squelching sound as the boy was cut in half as well as the rest of the tree.

Naruto's upper half, from the elbows up went straight forward onto the ground. His arms fell off to the side, and the rest of his body just laid there leaded up against the tree like nothing had happened. Blood started to drip out of the body, but not a rushed amount like one would expect, but more like a slow drip.

"That was a bit brutal don't you think Zabuza" came a cold voice from the shadows.

Instantly a small figure appeared slightly larger than the boy with a hunter nin's mask on. The new person's body was wrapped up in a blue and black battle kimono with ninja sandals on. This new person's hair was long, a shiny black color, and was about mid back in length.

"Hmph, little shit should have known not to mess with fire if he didn't want to get burned" was all Zabuza said as he lifted his blade up and reattached it to his back. "Do you know anything about this runt because I sure don't?"

Haku didn't move, but her eyes did wander down towards Naruto's body. She felt her heart clench like it always did when someone died before her, but she powered on, for the sake of her precious person. She only wished that the boy had been wiser in the one he had chosen to face. Someone of Zabuza's caliber was obviously far too much for him.

"No" spoke Haku after a minute. "I have checked all of the Black Books and neither his name nor his description in mentioned in it. Either he has been doing a good job to stick to the shadows, or he is relatively new at this."

Zabuza grunted and leaned down to start checking the boy for any valuables. He let the boy keep his White Light Chakra Sabre, as a warrior should die with his weapon, but the money on him, as well as the ninja tools was coming with him.

"He couldn't have been new to the game" spoke Zabuza as he sealed away all of the mundane things he found on Naruto. He wasn't pleased that there was no scroll containing the Twin Swords, but he figured the boy may have sold them off. "If he killed Riaga, then there is no way he was a novice."

"Then the only thing that I can tell you is the boy either got lucky fighting Riaga, or he was not alone. His skills were impressive, but not good enough to take out someone from the Seven Swordsmen of the mist" spoke Haku.

"I guess you are right" spoke Zabuza as he released his jutsu and jumped up into the trees. "Anyways we need to find that bridge builder. I am getting tired of having to deal with that short little bastard."

"Maybe we should just wait until he comes back" spoke Haku as she too jumped up on the branch that Zabuza was on. "If we check the mist and fog every few hours we will come across him soon enough."

"It will tire us out slightly, but it would probably tire us out more if we looked around none stop for the old man as well" spoke Zabuza. "Let's head back to the base, we can use the chakra pulse technique from there more efficiently."

"Yes Zabuza-sama!"

**[Five Minutes Later]**

Down in the grass the body of Naruto started to move. After a few moments black threads started to come out of the various body parts of the, at the moment, four pieces of Naruto Uzumaki. When they connected the pulled the body back together and started to sew it up.

"Damn that hurt like a MOTHER F*&%ER" spoke Naruto as he let out a breath that he had been holding since being chopped into four parts. "Damn it was so hard to force my body to not instantly pull itself together that I thought I would slip up while Zabuza was still here."

Naruto popped his neck a few times to get adjusted to the threads holding his limbs and upper body together. He had expected the pain to be a bit less from his own threads, but it seemed he had been asking too much.

'My body will heal in time, so I don't have to worry about needing to keep the threads in for very long before I can take them out, but still, how am I going to kill Zabuza, and his little pet ninja. I should have suspected there would be others, but I had assumed they would be weak, like Riaga's men. Seems I was over estimating myself and underestimating my enemies' though Naruto as he sighed a bit. He would never be able to look Kakuzu in the eyes, as scary as that was, if he ran away from a bounty. On the other hand, if he kept getting his ass kicked like this Kakuzu would probably remove his eyes; on the other if he ran away he would never forgive himself. It was a loose-loose situation in his opinion.

"Uhmm, are you talking to yourself?"

Naruto's eyes went wide and he quickly turned around pulling his tanto out. His stance was defensive, and his eyes were on alert, but to his surprise it was a girl, one he had never seen before.

The girl saw the tanto and instantly got into her own combat stance. Naruto's eyes widened further, thinking that this was possibly one of Zabuza's kunoichi come to take his body for whatever reason. He was just about to strike when he had to dodge kunai and shuriken that had been thrown at him from his blind spot.

Now there were two of them, but this newest one was a boy instead of a girl. He looked kind of emo, but way more capable than the girl. His eyes were sharp, and he was in a more advanced fighting stance when compared to the girl. Naruto could see it was a defensive style, but also one that was meant for counters as well.

"Sakura, are you ok" asked the boy, looking over at the pink haired girl now identified as Sakura.

To Naruto's shock, and shame, the girl did a three sixty from the fresh genin shinobi to a diehard fan girl. Kakuzu had touched on this subject a bit, saying that if he ever did experience one, it would be the teammate of a shinobi he was hunting down, because no fan girl ever became strong enough to be worth bounty hunting.

Mai on the other hand had spoken about it quite a bit. It was a blessing and a curse apparently that females matured faster than boys did. Apparently they could reason and understand things better than boys did, but unfortunately they started to notice boys more as a result. They tended to be caught up in their new hormones that they are not used to, and end up neglecting their training.

Mai had actually devised a training program especially for females that her clan used in order to break them of this nasty reaction. If what Naruto was to believe was true a kunoichi would be forced to witness, or do something, depending on the level of fan girl they were, so shocking or brutal that it would force their minds into a more logical and less idealistic manner.

It usually ended up with the kunoichi having to watch as a spy, traitor, or enemy ninja was killed before her eyes. Kagero said that the purpose was to force a kunoichi to understand that this was not a game or competition. The boy that they were crushing on may be skilled, handsome, or charming, but he was a trained killer, and so was she. If she wanted to continue on breathing, then she would have to learn sooner rather than later that life was not what some preteen girl who thought she knew it all was.

"Who are you weirdo" came a mechanical and monotone voice from behind Naruto.

Naruto turned around and saw another boy, who looked almost identical to the other one, eyeing him from his other blind spot. This boy wore form fitting clothes unlike the first boy, and his skin was as pale as alabaster, kind of creepy.

"So, I have a bubblegum fan girl, two twins; one an emo, and the other a homo, who have me trapped" spoke Naruto in a calm, almost bored tone.

There was silence. The girl seemed shocked, the first boy seemed pissed, and the second boy didn't seem fazed at all. After a minute all hell broke loose.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!" shouted Sakura with furry in her eyes. "I WILL WASTE YOU!"

She ran at Naruto with one hand cocked back getting ready to knock this boy's lights out. She was surprised when her while hay maker punch was easily dodged, but her shock turned into fear when she saw that the boy had ducked her punch and gotten into her guard. He was to close, and she was to slow to avoid the painful punch to her solar plexus.

She gasped as the air rushed out of her lungs as she crumpled over onto the ground. The pain was intense, but the place he hit her only made things worse. After a few second she threw up before falling to the ground trying to recover her strength.

"Sakura" shouted the emo as he unleashed another volley of shuriken in Naruto's directing.

Naruto easily dodged the attack by jumping backwards, but he knew that it was only a distraction so that the boy could rush to his teammate's aid. The other one, the homo, did so as well, but he didn't look concerned for his teammate, or really anything. All he did was just keep his eyes locked on Naruto.

"Sai, I don't know who this guy is, but he is dangerous" spoke Sasuke after checking on Sakura and finding out that she was alright. "We are going to need to attack him as a team."

"Alright… Emo" spoke Sai right before he jumped up high into one of the trees.

Sasuke was annoyed at the insult, but he had gotten used to his weird teammate at least a little by now so he just grunted and turned back towards the weird guy who had just shown up during their training.

Sasuke ran towards Naruto as quickly as he could and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks hoping to overwhelm his enemy. He was shocked when the boy was able to fend off all of his attack without even breaking a sweat.

He went for a overhead kick by dropping his heal down on Naruto's head as hard as he could, but to his shock the boy just caught it. Sasuke tried to break away, but the boy's grasp was iron tight and he wasn't going anywhere.

Unfortunately for him, Sasuke experienced the same thing that Sakura had, but only five times worse which sent him tumbling onto the ground and away from the boy. The boy went to press his advantage, but Sai took that time to strike.

Naruto hadn't been impressed with Sasuke's attack. It was to frontal, to basic, to work on someone like him. He was about to continue beating the boy up when a black and white lion, looking like something from a cartoon, attacked him from his left side.

The tiger though was nowhere near fast enough because just as the beast opened its mouth to bite Naruto it got a tanto lodged into the roof of its mouth. With a painful whimper the creature was destroyed and globs of ink went flying everywhere.

'Ink based ninjutsu? That is weird, but I bet Mai would love to add it to her collection of weird and strange jutsu back in the Fuma Clan Library' thought Naruto as he turned to the boy, whose face actually had a tweak of surprise before it went back to its neutral facade.

"That is an interesting jutsu, mind telling me how it works" spoke Naruto as he eyed the homo boy. After a while he realized the boy wasn't going to speak so he decided to change his tactics. "I like weird and different things, and your technique is just that, so one way or another I am going to figure out how it works."

Sai watched the odd boy and had to admit his skill was impressive. He had not believed someone as young as he was would be able to destroy his ink creations even after a surprise attack, but it seemed that he had been wrong.

He did have a moment of pride when the boy turned to him and told him that he was interested in his technique. He would never reveal it of course, he had invented it, and Lord Danzō wanted him to eventually teach it to the Foundation, but still it was nice to be complimented for once.

He pulled out his tanto and immediately engaged the boy in a close range battle. It became glaringly obvious that they both had spent quite a bit of time learning to wield a tanto. From overhead slashed to stabbing attempts Sai would say that they were both about average.

"Nobody makes a fool of me and gets away with it!"

Naruto and Sai looked over at Sasuke and saw a strange look in his eyes as he flipped through hand signs. When he was done he pulled his hands up towards his face and then exhaled a large fireball in their direction.

Naruto was no fool, and didn't want to experience that burning sensation again, but he did see a way he could benefit from this attack. With a swift kick, Naruto's foot made contact with Sai's upper leg eliciting a hiss of pain before Naruto jumped out of the fireball's line of destruction.

Sakura had recovered, somewhat from her attack, and saw with shocked eyes as Sasuke's fireball headed straight for Sai. She cried out for it to stop, but there was nothing she could do before the fireball engulfed her anger inducing teammate.

She was about to cry before someone said, "Now what is going on here?" She looked up with hope in her eyes to see Kakashi holding Sai under his arm. It seemed the master had come for his little students, and Naruto wasn't happy one bit.


End file.
